The Princess
by senzubean
Summary: Bra has hidden powers that have the capability of destroying her. And if that isn't interesting enough, a person form Vegeta's past shows up and changes everything. *Complete*
1. Power

I wish I were going shopping

**The Princess**

Chapter 1: Power

By: senzubean

I do not own Dragon Ball Z in any way. I make no profit from this story. I just wrote it for fun.

****

I wish I were going shopping. 

Bra watched as girls her age walked up and down the crowded streets of Satan carrying bags from various stores. Most of them were smiling and chatting with their friends. She envied them. Today was going to be horrible, she just knew.

A vicious curse broke her concentration. She looked at her father who was driving the car. Or, wanting to drive the car. They were stuck in traffic. He glanced at the clock on the dash and cursed again. 

Bra hmph'd quietly so her father wouldn't hear. She was hoping that they would be very late.

Eventually the car started to move again and Vegeta promptly began to drive like a maniac. Bra didn't even blink an eye as he swerved in and out of lanes, inches separating them from the other vehicles, she was used to it.

"Explain to me again why I have to participate in this stupid tournament?" She said out of the blue. The more she thought about it the angrier she got.

Vegeta heaved a frustrated sigh. He didn't feel he should have to explain it. He wanted her to fight and that was it, end of story. But that wasn't reason enough for Bra.

"The World Martial Arts tournament is not stupid. The best fighters on this sorry excuse for a planet will be there."

"Why aren't you competing then?"

"Because there is no competition for me. I'm stronger than any earthling. I can't believe you had to ask! Honestly, why would I waste my time?"

"Yeah." Bra stated in agreement. "Just waste mine." She finished saucily.

"This is part of your training, brat! You have to see what it's like to face an actual opponent rather than your brother, that Pan girl or I. Plus I need to see exactly what skills you need to improve." Vegeta punctuated the sentence with a growl of annoyance. "I should think that you would be excited."

"Why would I get excited about such nonsense."

Vegeta slammed on the brakes, halting in the middle of the highway. Bra looked around in terror as cars swerved around them with horns blazing. Thankfully no accidents occurred from her father's recklessness.

"NONSENSE!? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? FIGHTING IS NOT NONSENSE!"

"Well, I think it is!"

"What kind of Saiyan are you?" Vegeta asked appalled at her last statement. Bra looked at the floor, knowing that her father was hurt that she didn't embrace her saiyan heritage willingly. She guessed that the blood from her human half ran thicker than that of her saiyan half. But her father wouldn't understand that, he'd just see it as a reflection of his inability to train her. He would consider that a failing, and Vegeta hated to fail. 

"Look, Dad. I like having you train me, but I don't plan on ever using it. I'll never be a warrior."

"Hmph!" Vegeta scoffed. Unimpressed with her excuse and started to drive again. "You'll use it, whether you're a warrior or not." He stated and pretended to concentrate on the road. Bra realized that he was going to be stubborn today and not give in to her . She hmph'd loudly, angered that she wasn't going to get her own way this time.

"Sigh!"

The tone of that sigh was not encouraging to the scientist. Not at all.

"My Lord, I assure you, my data is correct. It is always correct is it not?"

Another small sigh was the response. The man on the other end of the view screen had his chair turned to his subordinate. He was swirling a drink around in boredom. "Yes, Morlick, you always provide accurate data. But, you can't really believe _this_ is accurate?"

"It is, I assure you. Prince Vegeta is alive, I know it!" Morlick stated urgently. He looked out of the window to his left to see planet earth, rotating slowly on its axis in a sea of stars.

"How do you _know_ that, Morlick?" His master demanded. "How could you have possibly gathered that information from your space cruiser?"

"Well..you see, Your Supreme Highness, " Morlick stated nervously. "I sent a scout down to the planet."

Another sigh, actually, more like a subdued growl of annoyance.

"I am the one who authorizes scouts, Morlick! They are far too expensive to deal out like cards. If you had your way you'd send a scout to every planet you could!"

"I know, My Lord, but I assure you, this scout 's information will be well worth the money. He has already confirmed the Saiyan Prince's presence on the planet. He did not die on Namek like we thought."

"You're sure?"

"Yes, positive."

The superior mumbled, intrigued. "Has he a daughter?"

"It is being confirmed as we speak, " He chuckled jovially. "This is quite exciting is it not?"

"Not really. More like, disturbing. Yes, very disturbing." The superior swirled his drink some more, then ceased. "You will inform me when you know for sure Morlick. If it is true, then you are to destroy her before the Prince becomes aware of our organization and makes things...difficult for us."

"Understood my Lord Polkrif, leave everything to me! I shant fail you!"

"You had better keep your word this time, Morlick. This is your _last_ chance!"

"I'M NOT FIGHTING HIM!"

"WHY ?"

"BECAUSE!"

"BECAUSE WHY?!"

"JUST BECAUSE!"

Vegeta opened his mouth to demand, yet again, for a reason why Bra refused to fight her randomly chosen opponent when he was given his answer.

"Because she thinks he's cute." Someone playfully chimed in.

"Shut up, Pan!" Bra ordered.

Pan laughed at Bra as she turned scarlet red, a mixture of anger and embarrassment.

"CUTE? WHAT KIND OF REASON IS THAT?" Vegeta yelled.

"Daddy! You are making a scene!" Bra warned in a hushed voice, thorally embarrassed now.

"I think you both had a hand in that Bra-bra." Pan laughed. Bra turned even redder when she noticed that everyone was staring from the stands right into the fighters box at them.

Vegeta crossed his arms and looked at Pan whom he noticed had a video camera and was recording the whole scene.

"Do you want to lose that thing?" Vegeta demanded.

"No." Pan replied.

"Then shut it off!" Vegeta warned.

Pan did so. And handed it to Bra. "I'm fighting first. Will you record the match for me? My Dad and I are going to review it to see where I need improving."

Vegeta gave a look of triumph to Bra who tried her best to ignore it.

"Sure." Bra complied. "Where is your Dad anyway? Didn't he want to fight?"

Pan shrugged. "He would have liked to but he had some meeting." 

Vegeta rolled his eyes unable to comprehend how any saiyan would pass up a fight willingly. He was quite disappointed, Gohan was a worthy enough fighter for him to do battle with.

"That's the same with Trunks." Bra stated. Vegeta hmph'd in disgust. Bra side glared at him. Then smiled at Pan. "So, why isn't Goten here?"

Pan giggled in anticipation of Vegeta's reaction to her reply. 

"He had a date."

"Argh! None of them are fit to be saiyans! I need a drink!" Vegeta grumbled then pointed at Bra. "You! Don't you move! I will return immediately!" Then he stalked off.

As soon as he was out of earshot Bra exclaimed to Pan, "He is driving me insane!" 

"That's what parents are for, didn't you know?" Pan smiled. Bra glared back, unimpressed with her friends cheerful demeanor. 

Just then, Bra's opponent walked past Bra and Pan with a friend of his. Bra blushed and turned away from his gaze. She was so embarrassed that she'd have to fight him. Why couldn't she have gotten Pan as an opponent? She side glanced to check him out again. To her surprise, he was checking her out. Bra blushed some more, but did not take her eyes off of him. Oddly, neither did he. He was practically staring a whole right through her. Bra felt her embarrassment replaced by annoyance. She stopped blushing, put her hands on her hips and confronted him silently with a glare.

He turned away but not before sending a final glare of disgust her way

"That guy is kinda weird , Bra." Pan said as if she had read Bra's mind and knew that she was thinking the same thing. "Maybe you shouldn't fight him."

"Are you crazy?" Bra demanded. "As if I would let that jerk intimidate me!" Bra tossed her hair and walked away. "Now I need a drink! If my dad comes back before I do, make sure he doesn't freak out. I'm going to fight and I'm going to win!"

Pan giggled after her. "Just like her father."

Bra glared viscously at her opponent. Granted, he was cute. But he had stared at her like she was dirt under his feet. She wasn't going to put up with that. But she also wasn't going to put up with her father bossing her around. This was a difficult situation she was in. It was going to be hard to get both points across at the same time.

The guy smiled his oh so charming smile at her as he adjusted the shoulder of his yellow gi. "Try not to beat me too badly OK, sweet-pea?" He asked with a laugh. A confidant, near condescending laugh.

__

That jerk! So he thinks I'm not good enough of an opponent for him? Well, he looks good in yellow. Let's see how he looks in black and blue?

She lunged at him with incredible speed, catching him off guard and unprepared. The guy grabbed a hold of Bra's wrist, which was now buried in the vulnerable area between the ribcage and the pelvis. He tried to throw her over his doubled over body, but he couldn't lift her. Instead, Bra tossed him over her head. He landed on his feet and promptly lunged in counterattack. Bra was prepared for him well ahead of time and easily blocked his kicks and punches. The blows gained in momentum and speed as the match progressed. Some hit their mark. They didn't hurt but the fact that he was able to get by her blocking angered her.

In the stands, Vegeta was fuming.

__

That Conniving little brat! How dare she fight poorly on purpose!

Down on the floor, Bra was thorally pleased with herself.

__

This'll teach Daddy to force me to do something that I don't want to! Now, it's time to show this ass-hole just who he pissed off!"

She started to attack for real. Every punch was blocked effortlessly. Bra was surprised, she was sure she wouldn't have to put that much effort against this guy.

Grudgingly, she started to fight him like she would her father or brother, rather than she would a weakling. After two of her best punches to his chest, she floored him. But not for long. He back flipped to his feet and prepared himself for his counter attack. Bra blocked the first few blows but was shocked to find herself kicked in the face. She'd been taken off guard and that pissed her off.

Then she found herself on the mat. _He_ had floored _her_! She sprang back up to her feet, enraged at herself. She had grossly underestimated her opponent. Her father warned her countless times about that. She knew that Vegeta would pick up on her mistake. And he would be able to tell that she had not made _this_ one on purpose. She was in for an earful on the way home. But that wasn't her biggest problem right now, her biggest problem was figuring out how she was going to get out of the ring the victor.

The boy was standing there casually, smiling confidently at the hyperventilating girl before him. Bra had no idea how she was going to beat him. She was tired already, this guy didn't seem to have broken a sweat. Her frantic train of thought was interrupted by a chuckle, a condescending, arrogant chuckle.

Letting out a war-cry, Bra lunged at him, bombarding him with kicks and punches. A few hit him, but not enough to satisfy the angry saiyan. She picked up her pace, trying to get more blows in, but loosing accuracy for speed. 

"CALM DOWN!" Vegeta bellowed at his daughter from the stands.

Bra ignored him. This was the only way she could win now. She had to wear this guy down, she had to win!

"You should listen to your Father, _Princess of Vegeta_." The guy said in a silky smooth voice, rather creepily.

Bra stopped her barrage.

"What did you just call me?"

Her answer came in the form of a left hook. She crumpled to the mat. Confused by this boy's strength and how he could know who she was. Then she remembered that it really didn't matter now. She had to win at any cost. She lunged at him again.

The guy dodged moving his body out of contact area and grabbed her trusting appendage. This time, he managed to get her over his head and would have slammed her on the mat, but a blinding flash emanated from the ring between the two fighters. The entire audience was blinded for a few seconds. When everyone was able to see, both fighters were laying motionless in the ring. Bra was sprawled over her opponents chest.

The audience was somewhat unconcerned at first and merely waited for the fighters to get back up. All except Vegeta, who was in shock. He had been following his daughter's ki very closely and he had felt it surge…

..then practically die.

"BRA!" Vegeta yelled as he shook himself out of his shock. He vaulted over the separator of the fighting area. He ran right over to her, dropped to his knees beside Bra and examined her.

Her Ki was faint, much fainter than it should ever be. And the boy, his was even fainter.

"This doesn't make sense!" he mumbled distressed. He never heard of such a dramatic plunge in a fighters ki. 

The boy moaned a little, then sat up. He looked at Vegeta and Bra confused.

"What the hell just happened?"

Vegeta ignored him, not having an answer anyway. He stared at his daughter expecting her eyes to open any second. He didn't hear the paramedics when they spoke to him almost ten minutes later, asking him to let them take Bra to the hospital. He was too upset that his child wouldn't wake up. 

__

This doesn't make sense!


	2. Fuel for the Mystery

"It just doesn't make sense

**The Princess**

Chapter 2: Fuel for the Mystery

By: senzubean

I do not own Dragon Ball Z in any way. I make no profit from this story. I just wrote it for fun.

"It just doesn't make sense." The doctor stated.

"I already know that!" Vegeta snapped impatiently. "That's what _I_ told _you_ when we first got here!"

"Vegeta, please." Bulma sighed. She understood how helpless he was feeling, she was feeling the same way. "Doctor, is there anything else you can do, maybe some more tests?" Suggested Bulma.

The doctor shook his head in regret. "I'm sorry I can't think of anything that I may have missed. Your daughter is perfectly healthy, aside from the fact that she is comatose."

Vegeta grunted, unimpressed. "But the boy, he regained consciousness almost immediately! Bra's been unconscious for an entire day and you're trying to tell me that there's no reason? What was wrong with that other kid?" Vegeta demanded as only Vegeta could. Angry, yet still extremely concerned, but mostly angry.

"The boy wasn't brought in for examination.. How your daughter entered this state I don't know. As you are aware, the investigation of the arena resulted in nothing. I'm afraid we're just going to have to wait and see what transpires. Try to be patient." The doctor smiled reassuringly.. "Now, if you would excuse me?" 

"Certainly," Bulma replied and thanked him. 

"I'll show you patient!" Vegeta spat after the doctor disappeared.

"Vegeta, stop it!" Bulma ordered. "I can't deal with you right now." She walked back over to her chair at the head of Bra's hospital bed and stroked her hair.

"Hmph!" Vegeta spat at her and leaned against the window ledge with his arms crossed over his chest. He observed his silent daughter. He never thought he'd actually want to hear her incessant gabbing again. He'd give anything to be able to listen to whatever she had to say. He also wanted to tell his mate that he was afraid for their little girl. He alone could feel her ki. He felt it fluctuate at uneven intervals. Surging, as if she were waking up then plummeting as if she were perishing. It was driving him insane to have to deal with that information alone, but he couldn't frighten his mate anymore than she already was. 

"Hey." Trunks said gently as he walked in. "How's she doing?"

Bulma shook her head. "The same."

Trunks walked over to his sister and examined her in intense concern. He pulled a stuffed rabbit from behind his back and placed it next to her head.

Bulma smiled warmly at Trunks, he spoiled her almost as much as his father. She turned her attention to Bra. "Your brother brought you another bunny for your collection, Bra." Bulma said in as cheerful a voice as she could feign. "Why don't you open your eyes and take a look. It's really cute."

Nor response. Bulma could barely stifle her tears. "Bra, sweetie, _please_ wake up!"

Trunks put her hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Mom. You know how tough we saiyans are. She'll be up and around in no time." 

Bulma nodded and wiped her tears on her sleeve. 

"Why don't you go to the cafeteria for some coffee? You need to get away from here for awhile. Dad and I will stay with Bra."

Bulma nodded again in agreement, picked up her purse and left silently.

Trunks turned to his father. His worry was unmistakable.

"Has her ki been that erratic all day?" Trunks asked.

Vegeta mumbled an affirmative. His scowl softened as he looked at his daughter. Then he sighed with remorse and looked at the floor.

Trunks knew that that was uncharacteristic of his father, and was surprised he was even permitted to witness it. Obviously, Vegeta felt that he was to blame for the "accident".

"Don't blame yourself, Dad. This isn't your fault." Trunks reassured him.

"Isn't it?" Vegeta demanded to know. "She had no interest in fighting yesterday and I forced her! If I hadn't this wouldn't have happened!" He growled in self-hate. 

"We don't know what happened to her in that arena, Dad." Trunks replied and extended a video camera out to him. Vegeta hadn't even noticed that he was carrying it. "But, I may have the beginnings of an explanation. Pan brought this to our house just before I left. I watched Bra's match and I think you should take another look at it."

"I've witnessed it first hand, I don't need to see it again!" Vegeta stated stubbornly, not wanting to see his daughter in that state again.

Trunks thrust the video camera against Vegeta's chest "Look at it!" he insisted.

Vegeta snatched the machine away from his son and hesitantly put his eye to the viewing piece and switched it on.

Trunks switched a button on the top of the camera as he watched the playback. 

"If you watch it in slow motion, you can see it in greater detail." 

Vegeta watched as Bra's punch missed its target and how the boy grabbed her arm, lifted her over his head. Then as she was in a perfect arc over him, it happened. A spark emanated from within the boys palm. 

No. It emanated from Bra's wrist. It had to. For a string of energy encircled _her_ arm all the way up to her torso. As this happened the boy started to crumple as if he were being drained. Then the blinding flash engulfed them and whited out half the ring.

Vegeta shut his eye as the light hurt him. When he opened it, there they were, both unconscious.

"So, that energy did come from Bra. I couldn't tell at the arena. I couldn't even tell whose ki had been flaring up. They felt exactly the same."

"Really?" Trunks asked. Vegeta nodded, he had been almost as disturbed by that as he had been at Bra not waking up. Everyone had a unique ki signature, and Vegeta could pick up those of his children effortlessly, even subconsciously. When Bra's disappeared for that fleeting moment, it terrified him.

"Strange," Trunks stated. "But at least we know that it was Bra that caused it. And, if anything, you should be glad. If you hadn't made her fight we may never have found out she could do such a thing. She needs to learn how to control that power."

Vegeta mumbled an agreement and went about replaying the video.

Just then, Bulma returned. "The cafeteria is closed." She stated in a tired voice. "And I refuse to drink coffee from a vending machine."

Trunks was about to offer to get his parents take-out but was interrupted by Vegeta.

"Take your mother home." He ordered. "I'll stay with Bra."

"No, I don't want to leave!" Bulma protested.

"Don't be ridiculous." Vegeta mumbled as he watched the video. "You can't do anything for her, and your incessant worrying is getting on my nerves."

"What is that you're watching?" Bulma demanded accusingly. Vegeta ignored her and rewound the video yet again. Bulma turned to Trunks.

"It's the match. Pan gave it to me." Trunks replied while avoiding his mother's gaze. He couldn't lie to her but he didn't want to tell her the truth either. It wasn't a good idea to get Vegeta in trouble.

"Damn it, Vegeta! Can't you think of anything besides training? Your Daughter is in a coma! Don't you care?!" Bulma yelled.

Vegeta sighed in exasperation at his wife's yelling. "Get her out of here, Trunks." He stated and watched the video again.

Trunks obediently began to lead his mother out of the room. "Come on, Mom. Dad's right, we can't help now. But Bra will need you to take care of her when she wakes up. You won't do her any good if you're exhausted."

"I guess so." Bulma admitted defeat and pulled on her coat. "But I can't believe he's watching the match! Of all the inappropriate things to do…." Bulma's voice eventually died as she was lead down the hall by her son. 

When he was sure he was alone, Vegeta took his wife's place by the bed.

Vegeta examined his daughter's face, white as a sheet. He reached out and brushed a single turquoise hair away from her forehead. 

"You've got some radical power in you , Princess." 

"Daddy?"

Vegeta blinked his eyes trying to shake off sleep. He'd dozed off. Was he hearing correctly, was Bra awake.

Finally his eyes focused on his daughters face, still pale. Her big blue eyes halfway open and tired looking, like her mothers had appeared hours before.

"Daddy, what's going on?"

"I was hoping you could tell me, Bra." Vegeta stammered so relieved he didn't really know what he was saying.

Bra was at the brink of tears. "What's that supposed to mean? What's wrong with me, Daddy? Tell me, I'm scared!" She reached out to her father. Vegeta instinctively took hold of her hand. As soon as their palms met a yellow coil of energy raced from the middle of their hands and up Bra's arm. Bra started to hyperventilate as the energy encircled her body.

Vegeta was frozen, he couldn't move . All he could concentrate on was his energy slowly being drained from his body. As he realized this was happening he tried to let go of Bra's hand, but she had tightened her grip.

"Let me go Bra." He said urgently as his daughter started to thrash around the bed in agony, her hyperventilation giving way to screams of pain.

"LET GO!" He panicked and tried to pull himself away from her but she grabbed on tighter. He was too weak to fight her, she was stronger than him.

"PLEASE, BRA, LET GO!" He screamed as loud as he could. She just didn't hear him. Her ki was growing too fast and his was decreasing. He crumpled to the floor, hanging in his daughter's grasp. He was drained, he couldn't even yell for help.

Then just as he was about to lose consciousness he saw a blinding flash.

"BRA!" Vegeta yelled and stood up, knocking over his chair as he rose. He was sweating and hyperventilating and confused. He rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palms then blinked in attempts to focus them. There, laying on the bed, he saw Bra. Still unconscious. 

Vegeta instinctively went to touch her but recoiled in horror inches away form her, afraid that his touch would kill her.

He glanced at the clock on the wall. The last time he had checked it was around 1 A.M. It was now 4. A.M.

"Idiot." Vegeta quietly chastised himself. "It was just a dream" Still, he could not bring himself to touch his daughter. 

Heaving a sigh of relief, he sat back down in order to recommence his vigil. Suddenly he was made aware of the state of his stomach. It was empty. He listened to it growling angrily, wondering if he should leave his daughter unattended. What if she was to wake up while he was gone. An intense growl, accompanied by sharp little pains moving all through his torso answered that question for him.

__

Her Ki was somewhat steady before I fell asleep and it doesn't seem to have changed much over the past few hours. He pondered, rising out of the chair subconsciously as he did so. His mind had made itself up. He crossed the room, stopping at the threshold and cast a glance over his shoulder. Surely he could stay and ignore his stomach's complaints. It would be a test of will power. His insides rumbled at the thought. 

__

Damn I'm hungry.

"Oh yeah, he's got a daughter all right." A young alien, of primate descent, stated gravely to his superior.

"A saiyan princess." Morlick stated. "A _true_ saiyan princess." He walked over to the massive view screen and looked upon the earth. "To think, Prince Vegeta had been living here, _peacefully_." Morlick chuckled at the thought of the Saiyan Prince; Once one of the most feared beings in the entire universe, having a family and acting civilized on a foreign planet.

"Yeah, and if you ask me, we should just leave them the hell alone. All of them!"

Morlick eyed his scout in contempt. "Why is that, Lokus? Do you have reason to be afraid of her? Did you have a confrontation with her?"

"Yeah, in a tournament." The green skinned lizard alien morphed into the boy wearing the yellow gi. "I fought her. Polkrif's got good reason to be afraid, she's a power sucker!"

"A _what_?" Morlick asked in disbelief.

"A..a power sucker. She drained my power! To the point of unconsciousness!"

Morlick cocked his bushy eyebrow at him. "Lokus....."

"It's true! She's a power sucker! And if she can do it, then Vegeta can do it too! You wouldn't believe it! Everyone at the tournament was talking about him and this other guy named Goku. They said they were comrades and they were the two of the most powerful people on that planet. And they're all power suckers!"

"IDIOT!" Morlick yelled and swept a bunch of binders, filled with data off his desk at Lokus. Some hit him. Lokus yelped in pain and surprise. "She obviously beat you with her own power! What were you thinking by fighting any of them? You know you're a scout not a soldier!"

"I know, I know! It's just that the tournament was convenient and..."

"I pay for information. And I pay you well at that, lazy ass! I expected much more out of you!"

"I'm sorry." Lokus replied sheepishly and bowed his head in shame.

"No matter." Morlick replied and tossed a power blaster at him, which he caught. "Go back and kill her."

Lokus gaped at his master. "No way!"

"Lokus, do as you're told! It's part of your job!"

"No way! I'm not going anywhere near that Vegeta guy. He's crazy. He looks crazy and scary. You don't want to mess with him!"

"What about Polkrif? Shall we _mess_ with him?"

Anything's better than messing with saiyans. We all know what they're like!" Lokus tossed the blaster back to Morlick. "A stupid blaster can't take a saiyan down, not even a weak one. And these aren't weak saiyans!" 

Morlick smirked. "We'll see. But since you're afraid, you don't have to confront them."

Lokus sighed in relief. But it was short lived as Morlick raised the blaster at him. "You know what they say, if you want something done right..."

"N..No.."

"..You have to do it yourself."

Morlick blew Lokus' head off and without another word and tossed the blaster on the corpse.

Vegeta pressed the button of the vending machine's turn table restlessly. Nothing looked appealing to him. He now wished he'd ordered Trunks to return with some food when he made him leave hours before.

"Why in the hell do earthlings eat this crap?" He wondered. He scowled at the thought of a dozen or so bags of bland and most likely stale potato chips. A fierce rumble emanated from within. His stomach wanted him to hurry up. Vegeta was about to put his money into the machine when it hit him.

It was ki, Bra's ki. But there was another person's ki along with it. Seconds later the building began to tremble, then shake. The vending machine toppled over onto Vegeta's head. He threw it off as if it were a garment of some kind and bolted down the hall back towards Bra's room. Someone was attacking his daughter and Vegeta was going to kill whoever it was.

Hospital staff and patients gathered in the halls, holding on to the walls for support. Vegeta shoved past a few nurses, standing near the doorway afraid to enter. Vegeta soon found out why.

Bra was sitting up in bed, hyperventilating. Her eyes were fixated and staring off into space and yellow coils of energy were encircling her body. Vegeta ran up to the side of the bed, but being too much like his nightmare would not touch her out of fear.

"Bra!" Vegeta stated loudly in an attempt to get her attention. No such luck.

"BRA!" Vegeta yelled. Bra didn't respond. He didn't know what else to do, so casting off his fear he grabbed her by the shoulders in desperation. 

"BRA!" He yelled a third time, slightly shaking her. Her skin stung to the touch, as if his hands were raw and he'd poured aftershave all over them and waves of power caused his hands and arms to throb.

Success!

"Daddy?!" Bra asked as if waking up form a deep sleep. Suddenly, she became aware of her present condition. She cried out in terror.

"What's wrong with you?" Vegeta demanded, trying his best to ignore his panic at her whimpering.

"Help me!" Bra choked out between gasps.

Vegeta thought for a moment. Then shot a ki blast at the window of the room, creating an exit. Immediately he flew outside, carrying Bra. Her Ki was a mixture of hers and the boy she'd crumpled. Somehow, she sucked the power out of him and retained it. She was expelling energy as if she were creating a ki blast. But instead of forming a missile the energy merely seethed in and out of her body. She had to release it in an attack. Or at least that's what Vegeta theorized.

Vegeta hovered in place in the air directly over the deserted hospital courtyard. 

"Listen to me Bra!" Vegeta ordered his panicked child. "I want you to expel that energy in an attack."

"B..but…"

"Trust me. Do as I say."

"I..I can't.."

"NOW!" Vegeta screamed right in Bra's ear, scaring the daylights out of her and causing her to fire in reflex. The explosion from her ki blast caused the earth within a ten mile radius to tremble. The result of it was a fairly large crater where the courtyard had been.

Vegeta descended heaving a sigh of utter relief. His daughter's ki was now normal. When he landed, he noticed that his chest and arms were burned. They stung but he was unconcerned with his condition, he was worried about Bra.

As she got her bearings straight, she began to sniffle. She pressed her face into her father's burnt chest, causing Vegeta to wince. Then she began to bawl.

"It's all right now, Bra." Vegeta said reassuringly, but he himself wasn't reassured in the slightest.


	3. Training

"So, when are you going to train her ****

The Princess

Chapter 3: Training

By: senzubean

I do not own Dragon Ball Z in any way. I make no profit from this story. I just wrote it for fun.

"So, when are you going to train her?" Trunks asked as he threw a punch at his father. It had been three days since the incident. Trunks and Vegeta had both concluded that training was necessary for Bra's safety. But Vegeta hadn't made any effort to train his daughter at all. It was partly because he himself was still in shock over the strange technique that his daughter had been naturally bestowed with. No saiyan had ever been capable of such a thing to his knowledge. Vegeta was nervous of this technique because he had never seen it before. He had no idea what kind of damage it could do. Bra's body shut down because she couldn't handle the small amount of power she'd absorbed. If she absorbed too much, then maybe she would shut down for good.

Then there was his wife. Bulma had been treating Bra as if she was made of glass. Pampering her and not letting her do anything besides go to school. Even though Bra was as healthy and energetic as she'd always been. Vegeta just didn't feel like fighting with Bulma over this. But that was just an excuse and Vegeta knew it.

Vegeta growled with displeasure. "I'll train her when I see fit." Vegeta replied as he blocked Trunks' punch in his palm, twisted his arm and threw the young man behind him. Trunks twirled around to face his fathers back, and landed softly un harmed. Vegeta's mind was definitely somewhere else. This had been the easiest sparring session with his father since he was nine.

"You can't wait forever." Trunks replied. "I think you should start right now."

Vegeta threw a ki blast his way as he turned to face him. "Mind your own business!"

Trunks batted it away and un transformed from super saiyan to normal Trunks. He knew that his father was afraid to test the limits of that power his sister possessed. But they both knew that it had to be tested.

"Look, Dad. The longer you wait, the harder it will be for Bra to adjust to the training. You should start now while the experience is still fresh in her mind. I'll stay and help if you want today?"

Vegeta growled. Both Trunks and Bulma were expert naggers. Why couldn't they be blunt like Bra or himself. If they wanted something , why couldn't they say "Do this now!" instead of giving him reasons, reasons and more reasons. 

"Fine, if you will stop pestering me!" He opened the doors to the gravity room on the control panel and stepped outside. "But be forewarned, she is not pleasant to train!"

"No way!" Bra practically yelled at her father, who was standing in front of the television she was trying to watch.

Vegeta turned and switched it off.

"You are going to train with your brother and I and that is final." He stated sternly and crossed his arms over his chest.

"No, I am not! I am never fighting again! Ever! And that is final!" She got up and went in to the kitchen. Casually she opened the fridge and began to rummage through it.

Vegeta observed her patiently. Wondering just how he ever allowed himself to be treated like this. Bulma told him time and time again that he was spoiling their daughter, but he never thought he'd done that much damage.

Bra rose from her bent position and closed the door. Vegeta was right there, glaring at her. "What?" she asked holding an armful of snacks. Bra was confused, usually he would just give up when she was assertive with him.

"Get out in the training room." Vegeta ordered. Enough was enough, her manipulation ended right there.

"No." Bra replied casually and turned her back on him.

That did it.

Vegeta grabbed her round the waist and slung her over his shoulder. She dropped her food all over the floor, making a huge mess.

"Look what you've made me do! Put me down!" She demanded, not bothering to struggle physically against her father. It wouldn't do her any good against Vegeta.

"No." Vegeta said, mimicking his daughter's previous refusal.

"MOM! DAD'S TRYING TO MAKE ME TRAIN!" Bra yelled at the top of her lungs knowing her mother would be displeased. She hoped that her mother would come in and annoy him. Most likely he'd leave to escape Bulma's scolding.

"She isn't home." Vegeta informed her as he stepped outside. Bra's jaw dropped. Not knowing what else to do she resorted to what always worked for her.

"But Daddeeeeeee!" She whined. "I don't wanna train!"

"Hmph!" Vegeta chuckled, amused that she could be so conniving. "Too bad."

Bra gasped. She couldn't believe that didn't work. That always worked. Ever since she could remember. If she wanted something, or didn't what something all she had to do was find Vegeta, whine in his presence, and her every whim was catered to.

Trunks laughed as he watched Vegeta and Bra approach. He was barely able to stifle it before they arrived.

Once inside, Vegeta threw Bra on the floor. Not very gently either. She watched in devastation as the door slid shut.

Bra's eyes furrowed in anger. She-did- not- want- to-TRAIN. Desperate times called for desperate measures. She sprang to her feet and stood there with her shoulder's hunched over and her arms straight against her sides.

"Daddy!" She said in the most threatening voice she could muster. "I refuse to train with you! This is my life and I am going to do what I want with it! And I have decided that I an not going to waste my time training when I could be doing more important things!"

"Like watch T.V and stuff your face." Vegeta asked unimpressed and getting very impatient.

"No!" 

"Well that's what you were just doing!"

Bra shook her head furiously and threw her arms down in rage. "WHAT-EVER! I'M STILL NOT TRAINING WI.."

Vegeta's backhanded slap to Bra's face silenced her. She was thrown to the floor a few feet away.

"DAD!" Trunks exclaimed , not believing what he'd just witnessed.

Bra turned her tear-streaked face to confront her father. "Y..you hit me." She stated as if she didn't believe it actually happened.

There was no question that Vegeta felt bad about striking her, but he did not regret it. "Yes." Vegeta replied almost gently. "To show you how important I think this training is for your safety."

"What are you talking about?" Bra asked angrily, turning away from him and wiping her face in the sleeve of her sweater. She hated to let her father and brother see her cry. It just reminded her of how much weaker than them she was.

"That power, Bra." Vegeta stated. "It's dangerous.."

"So," Bra replied and pushed herself off the floor, but kept her eyes there. "If it's dangerous to me then why would I want to use it again?" She made eye contact with him wondering what answer he'd have to that.

"It's dangerous because you can't control it. By training with you I hope to provide you with a means of preventing what happened to you again, Bra." Vegeta lowered his eyes, not wanting to admit his fear. "It has the potential to destroy you."

Bra was shocked by that. She looked to Trunks for confirmation. He nodded once slowly in agreement.

"Well, I guess I have no choice." Bra stated defeated and a little dumbfounded.

"No, you don't." Vegeta replied. "It's hard not being able to choose your own path." Vegeta philosophized, almost absentmindedly. He raised his eyes to his daughter's. "When you have mastered your power, you may cease your training if you choose."

Trunks' eyes widened slightly. The statement took him completely by surprise. He never thought his father would allow one of his children to give up what saiyans lived for.

"Thank you." Bra said in appreciation. She understood how hard it was for him to do that.

Vegeta didn't respond and merely set the gravity machine to about 100G. Bra could handle up to 200 or so. 

"I think the best way to start off is to just spar." Vegeta stated as he took a position on the floor facing Bra. "Two on one." He looked to Trunks. "Ready boy?"

"Fine by me." Trunks replied and took his position behind her.

Bra growled with dread, noticing that he had not asked her opinion, and took her favorite fighting position.

"Ready?" Trunks asked Bra as both he and Vegeta assumed similar stances. 

"Hmph! I suppose!" Bra snapped at him, she was embarrassed enough that he was there to witness her defeat by her father. Undoubtedly he was elated by it. He was so jealous of their relationship.

Immediately, Vegeta lunged at her, then Trunks behind. Bra shot up into the air and flung some ki blasts at them, then prepared herself to block their blows.

"Enough blocking!" Vegeta complained for the millionth time that week. He punched Bra hard in the arm to get his point across. 

"OW!" Bra yelled and swung at him in rage. Vegeta caught her fist. He could predict her every move. 

"You're being sloppy." He chastised.

"So what?" Bra spat back and swung with the other hand. Vegeta caught that one too and held it. "I thought we were trying to 'master my power'." Bra quoted her father bitterly. "Seems to me like you're perfecting my fighting skills."

Vegeta threw her away from him." You have no skills to perfect!" He said accusingly. "All those years of training and you've learned nothing!" 

Bra's face fell. She was obviously hurt by Vegeta's cold statement.

Vegeta knew that he would dislike this. He didn't want to hurt his child like that. This technique he was using was reminiscent of his childhood training with his father. His father was a ruthless trainer and his favorite method was making his student feel like garbage. Vegeta always felt that he wasn't good enough for his father. That nothing he did, training wise or not, was satisfactory let alone pleasing to the king. He hated the man for that. That treatment got him into so much trouble as he grew. Always trying to be better than the best, so he could stop feeling worthless. He'd vowed that he'd never treat his children like that.

Vegeta cursed in his head. He was breaking that vow to himself. He was hurting Bra's pride, but he didn't know what else to do. A week of steady, intense training had gone by and not once had her power manifested. Desperation caused him to do this. In the fight at the arena she wanted desperately to beat her opponent, now she just desperately wanted her training to be over with. Somehow, Vegeta needed to create that same scenario at the ring. He needed to make Bra believe that she wanted to defeat her opponent, desperately.

"Daddy, I'm trying my best." Bra whimpered.

__

Dammit! Why did she have to go and say it like that!? "It's not good enough!" Vegeta barely managed to choke out. He felt himself beginning to falter. In order to prevent him form caving he added, "You're pathetic!"

Bra's jaw dropped as she was taken aback by the statement. "What?" She sobbed.

"You heard me!" Vegeta said crossing his arms over his chest. "Pathetic. You're brother became a super saiyan at the age of 8, effortlessly. You're twice that age and you can barely raise your power to that of one of these pathetic earth-fighters! You're a disgrace to the saiyan race. If this were the planet Vegeta you would never be Princess!"

Bra wanted so badly to bawl. She was the saiyan princess. She was _his_ princess.

"You're such a disappointment," Vegeta added, wondering if perhaps he'd gone to far but he couldn't stop now. He could feel her ki rising, it was working. _Time for the clincher_. 

"Unlike your brother."

Right on cue. Trunks dropped in from above them. "Sorry I'm late. The President of Rogul Corp. doesn't know when to shut up." He said a she removed his suit jacket.

Bra slowly turned to face him.

"Good!" Trunks said to her as he did some quick warm up stretches. "Dad hasn't finished you off for the day."

His sister's reaction surprised Trunks. She growled, viciously, then attacked him. Funny thing was, she was hurting him.

"Ow!" He complained as her knuckles connected with his jaw. "What's with you?" He wondered aloud. He somehow knew that his father had something to do with this. 

Vegeta couldn't help but smile, this was too amusing. He had heard his mate tell Trunks when he was younger that he had better quit picking on his little sister so much. She had said that one day she would get him back. Today it seemed that Bra was getting her just deserts. For now, anyway.

It wasn't long before Trunks realized that Bra wasn't going to back off. She had forced him into the air, and no mater where Trunks flew she was right there with him. He saw the determination in her eyes. It was scary. She looked like Vegeta with that set gaze. She was just vicious. The only thing he could think of doing was to turn super saiyan. He did so, and with one swift punch he got her off him. Bra plowed into the ground, sending dust flying.

Vegeta was disappointed, he knew that that would happen though. Trunks hovered in the air, panting with his shirt in shreds. She had tired him out, he should've went super saiyan sooner.

When the dust cleared, Bra was standing. This was another surprise. It usually took her awhile to rise . Obviously she had been defeated, why wasn't she whining yet? Vegeta didn't know, and quite frankly, it was worrying him.

He opened his mouth to stop her from attacking , but she was too quick. Immediately she was back on Trunks, who was still a super saiyan. Vegeta could see that Trunks was getting frustrated with her persistence. The last attack was pitiful in super saiyan terms but if it had been executed with slightly more power than Bra would've been seriously injured. Trunks was getting the 'look' in his eye too.

"Don't you dare hurt her, boy!" Vegeta warned. He was sure Trunks nodded at him in accordance, but the "look " was still present.

Trunks angrily shoved her away after the last slap she dealt him scratched his face. "That's enough, ya little weakling!"

But instead of backing off, Bra lunged at him. Trunks dodged, but Bra still managed to slightly graze his shoulder. Then with a speed that no one, not even Bra, knew she possessed she attacked again and this time landed her punch. Trunks was the one sent into the dirt this time. This was such a shock to him that it knocked him out of super saiyan mode. And to add to his humiliation he'd landed right at his father's feet.

Vegeta watched as Bra landed, she was still looking angered but obviously triumphant. He hadn't been able to see the transference, but it had to have occurred. There was no way she could have felled Trunks in super saiyan mode if she hadn't, unless….

Vegeta cast his gaze down at his prone son, "Did you allow her to defeat you?"

"HELL NO!" was Trunks' response.

"So I thought." Vegeta mumbled and returned his attention to Bra. Before he could address her, she took off into the air with tremendous speed. Both he and Trunks watched her go. Vegeta had decided not to follow. His technique worked, but he felt an overwhelming feeling of regret.

And Shame.

"You really screwed up this time, Dad! Whatever it was that you did!" Trunks complained. "You know that she's going right home to whine at Mom. We're never going to hear the end of it!"

Trunks continued to complain as Vegeta stalked away from him in a very bad mood.


	4. The Past Returns

"That's it ****

The Princess

Chapter 4: The Past Returns

By: senzubean

I do not own Dragon Ball Z in any way. I make no profit from this story. I just wrote it for fun.

"That's it! We're giving up!" Vegeta spat. He had never been ashamed of himself in his life. But what he'd done to his daughter was worse than he could ever imagine. The more he thought about it the worse he felt.

He growled viciously and pressed his foot down on the accelerator of his convertible, ignoring highway speedlimits. Just let the cops try and catch him if they dared while he was in this mood. 

Trunks sat beside him in the car with his hands behind his head. For once, he didn't point out the laws his father was breaking. Vegeta growled again. "We're giving up! If it takes that much effort for that power to manifest itself then…"

"I think she's making progress." Trunks interrupted.

"What?" Vegeta asked not believing that the kid could be so stupid.

Trunks smirked at his father's distress. As he predicted, Bra told her mother and they had both left together before Vegeta and Trunks got home. Bulma called Vegeta from her cell phone, ripped a strip off him and told him that he and Trunks had to fend for themselves when it came to dinner. Vegeta then stormed out of the house and , without knowing what else to do, Trunks followed his dad.

"Progress? Are you insane, Brat?!" Vegeta continued.

"Think about it, Dad. That kid she fought the other day, he wasn't that powerful was he?"

"He was human!" Vegeta answered as if that fact were self-explanatory. He knew that his daughter was purposely fighting half-assed that day, just to piss him off. He was ready to punish her for daring to do that, but then the "Accident" occurred and he'd all but forgotten about it.

"And yet, his power made her pass out." Observed Trunks.

"But he grabbed hold of her." Vegeta pointed out. "You said that she only grazed you today."

"Yeah, but I was a super saiyan." Trunks said and laughed. "I was probably fifty times more powerful than that kid was, you'd think she'd have fainted again, even with that little power that she took from me."

Vegeta stared wide eyed at his son in comprehension, then returned his gaze to the road, "I don't know, a few seconds isn't a long time to absorb the kind of power she displayed today. The contact with the boy was much longer.

"Dad, come on. Don't tell me you're doubting the power of a super saiyan."

Vegeta scowled viciously. "Are you looking to get kicked out of this car?" Trunks shook his head no and stared at the floor. Vegeta hmph'd and continued to speed., the road was deserted, and lonely, almost depressing. "Maybe you have a point." Vegeta finally agreed. "Obviously, she's gained some control. But I want her to be able to do it consciously not just when she's enraged."

"A few more sessions like today and she should master it." Trunks replied.

Vegeta eyed him. "But that's our real problem , isn't it." He said, thinking of Bra's cold shoulder and Bulma in all her furiousness. He had a feeling that he'd be sleeping on the couch for a few weeks. Vegeta grumbled as he thought about it.

Trunks smiled then turned up the radio. Vegeta heaved a sigh, he was going to be hard pressed to get Bra or Bulma to agree to continue training. And if he did, Bra was just going to reject her saiyan heritage as soon as she got the chance.

"In other news, a mysterious explosion rocked the south end of the peninsula earlier this evening. Scientists are examining the desert plains for debris which is scattered for miles. No information is available on what the debris is from…." Announced the radio newsman.

"That's strange." Trunks said, but Vegeta wasn't really listening. He hummed absentmindedly. Trunks Shrugged and continued to enjoy the ride.

Vegeta was so occupied in his own disappointment in Bra rejecting her heritage that he didn't notice the person standing in the middle of the highway until too late.

Vegeta slammed on the brakes, knowing that he wouldn't stop in time, but wanting to try anyway. As much as he disliked the average human, he had no desire to run one down with his car. The police always made a big deal of such things. 

__

Stupid, Baka human! The highway is no place for them to be standing! Even if this highway was deserted right then.

When the car stopped, Vegeta was sure he hadn't felt the person go down.

"Geeze! What's wrong?" Trunks demanded.

"Didn't you see…?" Vegeta started to yell but was stopped by menacing laughter. Both men looked up into the night sky. There was an alien hovering above them. 

Vegeta examined him, as he descended in front of the car. He had never seen this species before. 

__

Very strange, he must have come from an uncharted planet. But, those planets were generally technologically unadvanced, how did this alien get to earth?

The alien tossed a strand of long sandy brown hair over his shoulder. He was of simian descent, humanoid. Quite hairy, with a pronounced snout and pointed ears. Actually., he looked like an oozaru, only of un-transformed size and he lacked a tail as far as Vegeta could tell. 

"Dad, do you know this guy?" Trunks asked, wondering if this were an old acquaintance of his father's.

Vegeta ignored the question.

"So, you are a father." The man stated with a menacing smile. "Tell me, do you have a daughter?"

"Who the hell are you?" Vegeta replied.

The alien chuckled. "Oh, no one _you_ know. But, I know who you are, Prince Vegeta."

"Dad….?" Trunks started.

"Shut up!"

The alien laughed. "Don't you like your children, Vegeta? It would be fortunate for me if you were apathetic towards them, at least to your daughter. Will you give her to me? It would be so much easier than killing you and your son, then trying to locate her myself."

Vegeta laughed out loud. "Kill me? Who do you think you are?"

"I am Morlick. Chief science officer to his Excellency, Lord Polkrif. Who is soon to be master of the universe." Explained the alien, matter of factly. He punctuated his sentence with an evil smile.

"Right." Vegeta chuckled. He'd heard that before. Master of the universe indeed. "That's a big task. Why are you wasting your time asking me absurd questions?"

"Because The Saiyan Princess is the only one who stands in our way!" Morlick snapped. Vegeta glared at him.

"I am a bigger threat to you than she is."

"So you _do_ have a daughter!"

Vegeta cursed his stupidity. Why'd he have to go and admit that Bra existed to this scumbag?

"You're nothing." Morlick continued. "You always have been. Everyone in the galaxy knows that no saiyan Prince was to be worried over." Morlick chuckled. "I see that you're not going to hand her over. So, one of my operatives will find her while we do battle. It's unfortunate, they're not as gentle as I am. I feel sorry for your child, but you've only to blame your stubbornness for any turmoil she finds herself in."

"Go to your sister!" Vegeta ordered Trunks, who was very confused at this point, but did as he was told. He shot off into the air form the convertible looking behind all the way to make sure that the alien wasn't following.

Vegeta wasn't worried about Morlick, he could feel the aliens Ki . If he was something to worry about he would have felt it long before the ape entered earth's atmosphere. He wasn't going for his daughter. But he had no idea how many operatives might be on the planet and Bra and Bulma were unprotected. He made a mental note to himself not to kill Morlick outright, he wanted some answers. He stood up on the seat of the car, ready to get out and attack when he was suddenly distracted by another unfamiliar Ki. Fairly hefty, definitely not human. A device bleeped somewhere in Morlick's clothing. He pulled it out and examined the small viewscreen that was projected in the air in front of his eyes. 

"How did that bitch survive?" He spat . Vegeta smirked, Morlick was worried already and he hadn't even seen what the Prince of all Saiyans could do. 

Moments later a woman landed between the vehicle and Morlick with her back turned to Vegeta. She was wearing a long black leather jacket that fit tightly around her long, thin body.

"Picking on helpless planets, are we?" The woman asked. "This is low even for you, Morlick." The woman continued.

"Ah Princess," Morlick stated fondly. "I'm afraid I don't need you anymore." 

"It must be my lucky day!" She replied sarcastically. "But I'm sure you've come here for something, and I won't allow you to disturb a peaceful planet."

"You can't stop me."

"Can't I?"

"You've never stopped me before."

The two glared at each other in a face-off. Neither of them moved for a good minute, abruptly the woman huffed in annoyance.

"What's going on here, Morlick?" she asked. "You hunt me down like an animal for nearly thirty years and all of a sudden you're not interested in me anymore?." 

The ape man laughed. "Even I make mistakes. I've discovered that you're not the one I wanted after all."

"Really?" the female asked with a tad of annoyance in her voice. "And who is it that you're actually looking for?"

The alien chuckled. "Prince Vegeta's daughter."

The female responded with a hefty ki blast. It knocked her opponent slightly backwards as it connected with his chest but didn't do much else.

"Liar! You and I both know that isn't possible!" the female snapped and continued to power up for additional assaults.

"Isn't it?" The alien laughed again and motioned with his head in Vegeta's direction. "Why don't you ask him?"

"What?" the woman asked, she hadn't taken any notice of Vegeta whatsoever. She looked right at him over her shoulder, and was obviously taken aback for an instant. Then , like a true warrior, regained her stern look of determination.

However, for a split second, Vegeta saw her surprise, her recognition of him. But Vegeta was sure that he had never seen this woman before. 

"I'll take the Saiyan Princess and there's noting the two of you can do about it!"

"Oh, puh-LEASE!" The woman mocked in exaggerated exasperation. "You're Polkrif's weakest warrior! He probably sent you here to get rid of you once and for all!"

"You know full well that I've got brawn to go along with my brains but you, my dear, have neither!" Enraged, Morlick lunged at her. They exchanged blows, the woman's hit her mark, but barely deflected the ones the attacker dealt to her. After a vicious scuffle that lasted a few minutes, the two forced each other away and stood in a face-off once again.

"I forgot how persistent you are " Morlick said , slightly winded. "I guess you will be a challenge, how refreshing."

"Asshole!" The woman replied as she undid the zipper of her jacket and started to remove it. "I haven't even warmed up yet." She threw the garment on the ground and took a fighting stance. It was then that Vegeta saw what the jacket was hiding.

"A tail.." Vegeta said aloud while examining the newly revealed appendage. The end of it twitched in the anticipation of a battle. It's brown fur bristling. 

"A saiyan! " Vegeta leaned as far over his windshield as he could in order to see more clearly. He didn't understand how this woman would recognize him when he could not recognize her. She had stated that the alien had been hunting her for "...nearly thirty years." Vegeta hadn't met any woman saiyan in over fifty. 

He was about to demand an explanation, but the two had started their fight again. Vegeta contented himself to watch for the time being. The two appeared well matched. But Vegeta knew that Morlick had the ability to suppress his ki, while the saiyan obviously did not. While Morlick was fighting on her level for the time being, he could possibly increase his power. Morlick's attacks were all a good deal slower than the saiyan's . But he unleashed more power with his blows. Each punch sent the woman reeling backwards, she was fast in attacking, but the blows would surely take their toll. 

__

This could go on forever! Vegeta realized. He wasn't patient enough to watch Morlick toy with the saiyan. He was curious as to what the hell they were talking about.

The next blow from Morlick sent the saiyan flying directly to Vegeta. Her body shattered the windshield of his car as she plowed into the glass. She winced for a split second as she pushed herself upright in the passenger's seat then looked up at Vegeta in obvious displeasure.

"Why don't you quit gawking and do something! It's _your_ daughter were fighting over!" She had barely finished her sentence when Morlick plowed into the car. The saiyan along with Vegeta dodged the massive body charging towards them. Morlick ended up forcing his fist right through the seat and down through the car's frame. And there he stuck. For some reason, he was able to get his arm through the apolstery but was unable to get it back out.

__

Pathetic. Vegeta mumbled in his mind while hovering in the air. The saiyan woman was preparing an attack. Obviously it was meant to be a final blow. Her Ki was rising rapidly. It was already at a level Vegeta had estimated to be impossible for her to sustain if the first ki estimation he did was upheld. Obviously he was wrong and that annoyed him.

__

Well, it would appear **she** was toying with **him **as well. Vegeta remarked as her ki quickly grew at a tremendous rate. _Oh, yes, she's a saiyan all right. Only a saiyan would provoke a hunter._

Morlick finally pulled his arm out. The woman's attack wasn't quite ready, she was going to wait until he attacked her to release it.

But Vegeta refused to wait any longer. He had questions that demanded to be answered.

He fired upon Morlick. It was a casual attack, for Vegeta that is. Morlick was blown to bits, along with the car. The mess spread a good distance down the deserted highway.

Vegeta smirked. Bulma was going to be angry, she had been angry with him already. Vegeta shrugged it off with a smirk. _I wanted a new vehicle anyway._

The saiyan woman was taken aback by Vegeta yet again. Then she growled, scanning the terrain beneath her. Wondering what was she going to do with all that energy she conjured up. In an instant she decided. She let it fly at the rubble, incinerating it even more. "Great, all that effort for nothing! Damned idiot, he always could keep his secrets!" The saiyan grumbled in annoyed and shot a glare at Vegeta. Soon it softened and she smiled slightly. "Oh well, Good riddance!" she spat at the charred mess as she descended. "Finally." She added with a touch of relief.

Vegeta followed, arms crossed about his chest, and landed softly behind her. He watched her for a few minutes as she examined the debris, as if she wanted to make double sure her opponent was dead.

"Hmm!" She stated impressed after a few minutes. "That was a nice attack. Even if it was undesired at that particular moment. I was trying to get him to divulge whether or not he told his partners about your daughter's existence. But it's too late for that now, guess we'll just have to wait and see. So, how'd you mange to conjure up all that power so effortlessly?"

"Hmph!" Vegeta said in annoyance. Like a lot of woman, this one talked a great deal. And she was shrewd to say the least. 

The woman's eyes lit up at his remark, not disappointed at all about not getting a proper answer.

"Tell me , woman." Vegeta stated, trying to ignore her obvious delight in being there with him. "Who was that pathetic excuse for a warrior? And what did he want with my daughter."

The saiyan grew serious. "That was Morlick and he wanted to kill your daughter as he's wanted to kill me for the past thirty years or so."

"I've already collected that information." Vegeta replied unsatisfied with the vague response. "Why?"

"I don't know why."

Vegeta scowled at her viciously. "For thirty years you've taken the trouble of eluding him and you don't know why?"

"He told me he was going to kill me, that's why I eluded him. Would you need another reason if someone said that to you?" She spat angrily and turned her back on him. She walked around looking at her feet. 

"Do you see my jacket around anywhere?"

"Where did you come from?"

"The same place as you."

Vegeta growled, suppressing the urge to grab her and shake the answers he wanted out of her. "Did I blast the wrong informant, Woman? You know what I mean! Where have you been that I didn't know about you!"

The woman turned back to him and laughed. "Damn you're arrogant! You haven't changed much. Although, you're more of a jerk than I remembered you being."

"And just how do you remember me?" Vegeta demanded losing his patience. " because I don't remember you!"

The woman looked quite hurt. "Don't you? I thought I meant more to you than that. I never forgot you!" She whirled away from him and sat on the pavement. Vegeta was surprised to hear a sniff and to see her wipe her eyes with her arm.

__

She's crying. Saiyans don't cry!

As if she heard his thoughts she stifled her sniffling and turned her head back towards him. "Take a good look, Vegeta, and say that you don't remember me."

Vegeta looked at her. He had to , those eyes. They were begging him to remember. But he just couldn't, the woman sensed this and returned her gaze to the ground, crushed. Vegeta looked towards the ground himself, this situation made him uncomfortable. 

"AARGGGH!" The woman screamed and leaped to her feet. "Damn it! I'm Sala!" She stood there confronting him, her eyes begging him to acknowledge her.

"Sala.." Vegeta stammered dumbfounded. The memories of his friend ran through his mind as if he had seen her yesterday when in fact it had been ages since he'd even thought about her. "SALA?" He erupted enraged. "How dare you covet that name! You're not Sala, she's dead!"

The saiyan woman's tears flowed openly. "No..no she isn't. She's right here!"

Vegeta growled viciously at her. This was actually creeping him out. "Go!" Vegeta said as he levitated into the air. "Go back where you came from and don't come near my family or I'll destroy you."

Vegeta wasn't sure why he didn't just didn't destroy her now. But he felt he might as well let her go. He knew that he could protect his daughter from whoever threatened her. If it was even true that assassins were hunting her. Which Vegeta doubted highly. One more saiyan wasn't going to change anything in either direction. And this one was obviously insane. Undoubtedly she'd get herself killed off one way or another soon enough.

"But Morlick destroyed my ship! I can't leave!"

That was an undesired circumstance. Vegeta grunted in annoyance. "Just keep your distance!"

"Wait, Vegeta!" She cried out from the ground, frightened by the threat but desperate to keep him from leaving. "There must be a way to convince you."

There's nothing you could say to convince me woman! I know you're lying! You have no idea how ludicrous what you told me was! Now go before I change my mind about sparing you!" With that he took off faster towards his home, somehow not being able to be rid of her fast enough. To his dismay, she had begun to follow him. Vegeta sighed. He was going to have to kill her. He couldn't bring a saiyan woman home to Bulma, she would freak right out.

Vegeta decided to ignore her, hoping she would get tired, or finally realize that he wanted nothing to do with her and leave. But she was catching up. Vegeta powered up slightly so he could blast her out of the air . He was just about to turn on her when...

"BEANA!" the woman screamed. 

That word halted Vegeta. He slowly let the power he collected subside. "What did you say?" he stuttered, surely he heard wrong.

"Beana." She repeated more gently. "We found her corpse together, that night Frieza had you taken from the palace. Just you and me. You _have_ to remember that!"

Vegeta started at the woman, who was keeping her distance, blankly. Memories that he had tried desperately to forget came back in a huge rush to his head. His Nursemaid Beana, dead in his room. Sala shaking violently under his bed as they hid from the Ginyu force, who were killing every living thing they came across. His Mother being brutally murdered before his eyes.

"I remember." Vegeta stammered in a nearly inaudible voice wishing that he had never remembered those things. The events that started the downhill spiral of his life. The events that had almost been his downfall yet kept him alive somehow.

Sala gasped with joy, shot over to him like lightning and threw her arms around his neck. Vegeta couldn't help but allow it.

"I missed you, Vegeta." 


	5. Explanations

theprincess05 ****

The Princess

Chapter 5: Explanations

By: senzubean

I do not own Dragon Ball Z in any way. I make no profit from this story. I just wrote it for fun.

"Hmph! I can't believe he didn't apologize to me!"

Bra rummaged through the refridgerator. She didn't have to be at school for three hours, but she got up extra early in order to elude her father. After training the day before, she retreated to her room and refused to come out. She was adamant about not talking to him. She refused to leave even when her mother said that there was a big surprise in the living room. She knew that it was all just a trick. She didn't care what her father had for her. She didn't want to see him, talk to him or listen to him. How dare he call her pathetic after she tried so hard at something she hated all for him.

She sat down at the kitchen table and was wolfing down her cereal when she was joined by someone else.

Someone she didn't know.

The woman yawned, stretched and walked into the kitchen all at once. She was wearing one of her mother's nightshirts. Bra gaped at her. Who was this woman? She had never seen her before. It was very strange, and what was even stranger was that she had…

__

A…a tail! Could she be? No, she couldn't. That's impossible!

The woman's long brown tail waved gracefully behind her as she walked. Bra gasped slightly.

__

She couldn't be a saiyan , but..there it is!  
Sala heard Bra's slight gasp as entered. She looked at her and smiled. "Hey! You must be Bra. Wow, you look exactly like your mother. You sure are weird lookin' for a saiyan princess. So, wadda ya got to eat around here?" Sala scanned the kitchen trying to figure out where the food was kept. Bra continued to gape, completely flabbergasted.

Sala's stomach growled. "C'mon, Princess, a little help? I'm starving!"

Bra continued to stare. Sala looked at her with growing frustration. It was a simple request after all. Just then Trunks stumbled into the kitchen, looking as if he had tossed and turned al night.

"Hey Sala." He said to the saiyan casually. Bra transferred her gaping to him.

Sala beamed at him. "Morning Trunks. Where do you keep the food in this place? Your sister isn't being any help at all."

Trunks looked at Bra and burst out laughing at her expression.

"You'll have to forgive her." Trunks stated as he opened the refrigerator for Sala then went about making some tea. "She isn't used to the weird stuff that sometimes happens on this planet."

"Truuunks?" Bra asked as she watched Sala rummage through the fridge contentedly.

"Oh, sorry Bra." Trunks said, realizing that she must be confused. "This is Sala. She was Dad's best friend when he was a little kid. Way back when he still lived on Planet Vegeta! Cool hey?"

Sala stood up, arms laden with a pile of food. "I wouldn't call us best friends, " Sala disagreed. She smiled. "More like imposed playmates. Your Dad was such a spoiled little brat. I wouldn't keep company with him only that my father made me."

"Well, You don't mind keeping company with me now." Vegeta observed as he joined them in the kitchen, looking twice as disheveled as trunks. Complete with big circles under his eyes.

"Ya look like crap!" Sala teased.

"Shut up." Vegeta replied and took a chicken leg from Sala's food pile as he passed her. "How could you _let_ someone destroy your spaceship, anyway?"

"How could you _let_ someone cut off your tail?"

Vegeta glared at Sala, who glared right back. Trunks and Bra watched nervously. No one dare mention Vegeta's tail. That subject was always certain to put him on the warpath.

"Hmph." Vegeta grunted with a slight smile. Promptly Trunks and Bra heaved sighs of relief. Vegeta glanced down at Bra who scowled, 'hmph'd' disgustedly and then focused her attention onto her cereal bowl. Vegeta was quite shocked. Surprised that she was still angry. It had never taken her this long to forgive him before.

"So," Trunks began as he sat down, tea in hand next to his sister. "You're positive that there aren't any operatives on the planet."

"Not now. Not unless Morlick conjured them out of the air," Sala said dumping her pile of food on the table across from Trunks and Bra. She sat and ripped a piece of meat from a hambone with her teeth viciously. "Or he has clones or androids or something'" She stated as she chewed. She swallowed and licked her lips. "I rechecked my scouter anyway. But I know that Polkrif doesn't usually send reinforcements with half wits who continuously fail. Morlick had always been full of hot air. Besides, Morlick's theory was so implausible given the common knowledge on Prince Jerkface over there, Polkrif wouldn't bother funding field research. In fact, I suspect Morlick proceeded to this planet without permission." Sala chuckled, glancing at Vegeta and thorally satisfied with the displeasure on his face. "He was right, unfortunately for him, he's dead now and can't reap the benefits of his discovery."

Vegeta growled softly as he fixed himself a sandwich. "But who will attempt to reap the benefits in his stead?"

Sala was in the middle of chewing an entire bagel that she'd stuffed in her mouth. "Don wury" She stated then swallowed hard. "No one's gonna get the princess here. Not while I'm around."

"Hmph!" Vegeta scoffed unimpressed.

Bra went bug eyed. "What is going on here!" Bra wailed, wondering how in the hell this saiyan woman got here. Most of all she wondered how she became involved when she hadn't done anything.

"Apparently, some alien assassins are after you." Trunks responded.

"Trunks!" Vegeta yelled. That was hardly an explanation. The only thing that would do would scare Bra and make her scream like an idiot.

"ASSASINS!?!?!" Bra screamed. "WHY DO ALIEN ASSASINS WANT TO KILL ME?"

Vegeta sighed in frustration. 

Sala cocked an eyebrow at her. "You tell me, princess."

"ARGH!" Bra growled and jumped up from the table. 

"That's it! This is nuts! I'm going to school! And when I get home things had better be normal again!"

She got up to do just as she said.

"You're staying here today." Vegeta ordered with the majority of his attention focused on preparing his breakfast.

"Why?" Trunks and Bra demanded at the same time.

"Because I don't...." Vegeta faltered, not wanting to admit his excuse in front of Sala. "Just because!" He said stubbornly.

"I'm not going to listen to you!" Bra replied in anger. "I'm not going to let you run my life anymore!"

Vegeta dropped the knife he was holding roughly on the counter, turned and marched towards her. Scowling viciously. Bra dropped her backpack and ran to her room. Not wanting Vegeta to make her stay put. Vegeta stopped, scowl softening into a look of remorse. Knowing that he should apologize to her instead of scaring her.   
"Nice one, Dad." Trunks chastised. Vegeta shot a glare at him, this was all his doing. Trunks was like his mother, he couldn't keep his big mouth shut. Then he returned to making his sandwich.

Sala sighed in satisfaction, taking no notice of the family argument that had just gone on while she ate. Very little remained in reminisce of the food she'd taken from the fridge.

"I'll talk to her." She chirped and bounded off before Vegeta could protest. 

He shrugged and sat down at the table with his massive sandwich.

Trunks stared at him accusingly.

"What?" Vegeta demanded. Trunks merely shook his head. 

Bra collapsed on her bed, face buried in her pillow. She hoped that it would stifle her sobs. Why did he have to be so mean to her?

__

Why doesn't he like me anymore?

Bra rose to her knees and looked at her hands. Tears fell on her up turned palms. 

__

It's this stupid power! He hates me because of it. Because I have it and he doesn't! That has to be it.

Bra gasped, trying not to bawl.

"It's not my fault." She sobbed.

Just then her door was flung open and in walked Sala. Surprised at the intrusion, Bra threw herself to her pillow again. She didn't want this saiyan woman to see her crying. She felt weak enough already.

"Nice room!" Sala said as she walked around, examining objects. She stopped by the dresser and looked at all the pictures Bra had displayed. All of them were family photos taken at various times throughout the young girl's life. And every one of them had Vegeta in it. There were a multitude of ones with just the two of them. 

"Go away! I didn't _ask_ for you to come in!" Bra yelled, her pillow muffling her objections.

"We need to talk." Sala said seriously and shut the door, then flopped down on the end of Bra's bed.

"Comfy!" Sala exclaimed. "What a spoiled little princess you are!"

"Hmph!" Bra scoffed. "I'm no princess!"

Sala laughed. "Are you kidding? Of course you are. Your father is prince Vegeta. And I know a daddy's girl when I see one, believe you me!"

"My father hates me." Bra mumbled.

Sala snickered. "Teenagers." She said shaking her head. "So he got mad at ya? Get over it, kid. Life isn't sunshine and lollipops all the time."

"I know that!" Bra spat. Getting more than just a little annoyed by Sala bothering her. Couldn't she just wallow in her own misery in peace?

"Your Dad is just worried about you, that's all." Sala continued gently. " He told me that he was just trying to provoke you yesterday into using your power. He admitted it was a harsh method, and I can tell that he's sorry."

Bra turned her head from her pillow. "I want to hear that from him."

"I know." Sala said gently then chuckled. "But he's Prince Vegeta, you could die waiting for an apology form him. He's just too damned arrogant."

"He's not _that_ arrogant." Bra argued.

Sala chuckled, "See? told ya, daddy's girl."

Bra sat up wiping the rest of tears from her red eyes. Sala looked at her sympathetically.

"He doesn't get mad at you much, does he?"

"Lately he's been getting mad at me all of the time." Bra replied. "It was different when I was little. He never got mad at me. No matter what I did, I was immune to his rage." Bra smiled at the thought of her father melting whenever she went near him, then it faded into a frown. "But it seems that now he's developed an immunity to me."

Sala sat up with her. "Worry does that to him. It's a family trait, his mo….." Sala stopped herself in mid-sentence. "Don't take it personally. He still adores you, I can tell."

Bra smiled, then turned a curious face towards Sala. "Where did you come from, Sala?" Bra asked. "Dad said that there were no more saiyans besides Goku and him."

Sala nodded. "He was right in believing that, great pains were taken to hide me from him."

"Y..you were a childhood friend of his?" Bra asked. "He told me once that he had no friends when he was small."

Sala smiled warmly, but her eyes revealed her sadness. "Our separation is a painful memory, for us both." Sala pulled her knees up to her chest, "It all happened the day your Grandfather refused to give your father to Frieza….."

"Where's Bra?" Bulma mumbled as she stumbled into the kitchen. Her housecoat was undone and hanging from one shoulder. Her eyes had bigger black circles under them than Vegeta's and her hair was a tangled, frizzy mess.

"Sala is talking to her." Trunks replied. "Dad pissed her off again."

Vegeta glared at Trunks, not wanting to hear Bulma scream at him. This was one morning it just wouldn't amuse him at all.

"Are you sure that's wise, Vegeta?" Bulma stated calmly, much to Trunks' relief. He didn't want his father pounding on him for getting him in trouble. "You said last night in bed that you didn't..."

"I remember what I said." Vegeta replied, very calmly. Very un-Vegeta like. Trunks couldn't help but gape.

Bulma joined her husband and first-born at the table. "You don't trust her, " Bulma stated in a whisper. "Yet you allow her to be alone with our daughter?" She continued, slightly agitated.

"Why don't you trust her? Her story seems plausible enough. Considering all the other stuff that's happened in the past around here." Trunks whispered. Eyeing the doorway in case Sala came back.

Vegeta shook his head. "She's lying about something." He took a long sip of his orange juice, pondering his belief. He set the empty glass down on the table and rotated it absentmindedly between his fingers. "Of that I'm positive." 

"Th..that's just awful!" Bra exclaimed, trying to hold back her tears. Sala had just finished explaining the particulars of the massacre a the palace.(detailed in "The Prince")

"The Ginyu force took your father to one of Frieza's bases. They came back to his bedroom, retrieved me and took me to another."

"Why didn't they kill you?" Bra wondered. "Why would they steal both of you when they had only come for my Dad?"

"I had heard the reasoning was that the Ginyu force were supposed to bring your father unharmed. But Your father was a force to be reckoned with, even as a small boy. They ended up with damaged goods. So, they took me too as an apology of sorts."

"But how could you have not known of each-other's survival. A secret like that couldn't be easy to keep." Bra pointed out. Sala smiled sadly.

"Frieza didn't want me. He said that a female was too dangerous to have around. If we ever mated , our child could very well have surpassed Frieza's power. Frieza was prepared to kill me. Fortunately, his father, King Cold had come for a visit and was looking for a new pet. I was spared, but there were countless times I wish I had've been killed. Life at King Cold's was unbearable."

Bra looked to the ground, having had her fill of horrible stories for one afternoon.. 

"When did you escape?" Bra wondered.

"About thirty years ago, when Frieza and his father were finally killed by your brother." Sala laughed. "Now, that's an interesting story! I never would've thought time travel was possible."

"So, what does all this have to do with me?" Bra asked, not wanting to change the conversation just yet.

Sala chuckled. "You're very important Bra. Your father told me of your special ability. If you master it then the people after you will have something to be afraid of for sure!"

"Afraid of _me_?"

Sala nodded. "Apparently these people, the Fortiens they're called, have prophesied that the only person who could stop their leader from obtaining dominance over the universe is a saiyan Princess." Sala smiled mockingly. "The idea is ludicrous. Especially since before yesterday they thought the closest thing to a saiyan princess was me. At King cold's I was protected from them. But as soon as I escaped, they started hunting me down."

Bra stared at her wide eyed. 

"I spent thirty years fighting and running. Somehow, Polkrif's field researcher, Morlick, stumbled across your father and you. They're hunting you now, because you're a true Saiyan Princess. My title was only honorary, bestowed upon me by your grandfather."

Bra was flabbergasted and terrified and it plainly showed on her face. Sala smiled in reassurance. "But don't worry. They're no matches for a super saiyan. And I doubt that Vegeta would allow them to kill his little girl. There are no sure facts that Morlick even told anyone else about you. It's common knowledge that Prince Vegeta died by the hands of Frieza. I doubt that Morlick was able to prove the contrary before your father offed him."

Bra hummed in agreement , reassured, and looked at her bedcovers. She often asked her father this question. It was a question to which she usually got an impatient and almost angry response to.

"What was planet Vegeta like?" Bra asked. "Do you miss it?"

Sala smiled warmly. "It was my home. I miss it in that sense. But as for what it was like, I can honestly say that I don't remember much. It's the same with your father, I think." Sala sighed and let her feet drop back to the floor. "It must have been so hard for him, being alone. It was hard for me."

"Yeah," Bra agreed. "Most people don't understand the way he is. Even Goku, I mean Kakarrot, isn't a normal saiyan."

Sala smirked fondly. "Neither is your father."

"So what do we do?" Trunks asked his father as Bulma cleared the table. "Just sit around and see if any assassins show up on the doorstep?"

"More or less." Sala answered as she entered with a now happy Bra. "You're exaggerating just a tiny bit there, Trunks. My scouter will pick up any enemy ships well before they enter earth's atmosphere." 

Bulma heaved a sigh of utter relief as she poured tea for everyone. 

Bra walked right over to her father and hugged him.

"I'm sorry Bra." He said, feeling that he did not deserve her affection at all.

" You're forgiven." Bra said and squeezed him tighter, then went to the fringe to get a drink.

"Let's just consider the worst case scenario." Trunks suggested. "An assassin does come to the earth looking for Bra. What then?"

"What else?" Sala shrugged. "We fight. We fight until all threats to Bra, this planet and the universe have been destroyed."

"That seems easier said than done." Trunks grumbled.

Sala hmph'd. "Well, you'd know better than I. Being a super saiyan and all." 

Trunks took a sip of his tea. Finally satisfied with Sala's answer.

Sala was about to strike up a conversation with Bulma when Trunks interrupted yet a gain. "What if they attack a town or city before we can get to them."

Sala huffed. Getting annoyed with Trunks' persistence in talking about the negative.

"If they were Frieza's operatives then that would be a concern. But these men are not, they're after Bra and that's it. They'll follow us because they will not leave without killing her."

"So, that means that they won't be leaving at all." Vegeta stated, arms crossed over his chest in determination. "Now drop it Brat! This is a fine time you've picked to become practical."

Trunks scowled at Vegeta then got up. "I gotta go to work now. Call if anything happens."

Vegeta growled frustrated after his son.

Bra looked around the table hesitantly. "So, if Sala's scouter will pick them up well before they'll actually get here then can I go to school. You'll know where I am."

"No." Vegeta stated.

"Why not?" Bra exclaimed.

"Because ...." Vegeta thought for a moment, needing an excuse. "We have training to do."

"What?" Bra demanded incredulously. 

"You heard me. I don't want you wandering around with that unpredictable power any longer. So go get changed and meet me in the gravity chamber in five minutes."

Bra turned to her mother. "Mom...."

"This is none of your mother's business!" Vegeta yelled. "Now go do as you're told."

"Hmph!" Bra scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest in anger.

Vegeta stared hard at her. "Do I have to carry you out again?"

Bra got up and stormed away. "Whatever! The sooner I can control it the sooner I can quit for good!" She yelled behind her. Vegeta gritted his teeth to prevent himself from yelling something nasty back.

Sala smirked at her friend. "Well, so much for being forgiven."


	6. The Trunth Comes Out

Bra leaned over the balcony, watching busy people going about their business on the street ****

The Princess

Chapter 6: The Truth Comes Out

By: senzubean

I do not own Dragon Ball Z in any way. I make no profit from this story. I just wrote it for fun.

****

Author's note: Sorry its taken me so very long to update. And I hope that no one has read this chapter before today, August 12. If you have, you're going to be really confused when I post chapter #7. Why? Because when I uploaded it last week, I had no idea the site was having problems. I got a screen saying that an error was detected, so I figured the upload failed. I was gravely mistaken, it worked all right, twice! Then a few days later, thinking it hadn't been posted anyway, I changed the story a bit. Actually a lot. Then I found out that the fic had been uploaded. So, I hope that not too many of my avid readers have checked this chapter out all ready, because it's wrong. I'm the only one to blame for this, and I am very, very, very sorry. You can't imagine how sorry I am. Well, enough of my whining. Enjoy this slightly altered but better chapter #6.

Bra leaned over the balcony, watching busy people going about their business on the street. 

"I'm missing out on life." Bra grumbled and rested her chin on her palm. Maybe her father was content to stay at home and train day in and day out. But Bra had become accustomed to socializing. She thought of all her friends at school. She hadn't gone in three days. She wished that she could leave the confines of her home, even if meant listening to a monotone teacher drone on and on all day. It would be better than listening to her father yell at her. She heaved a sigh and returned to the patio table where her school books were sitting in a neat pile. Her homework rested beside them, waiting to be done.

"Hmph!" Bra scoffed. "This may be worse then training." The thought of her accumulated math assignments made her head hurt.

"You ready to go again?" Vegeta asked casually from where he lay on the gravity room floor, relaxing, with his head resting on his arms. 

Sala sat next to him, trying to catch her breath. Her clothes were ripped in various places and she was going to have one nasty bruise on her left eye the next day. "You're not tired?"

"No." Vegeta replied, rolled over onto his stomach and started doing push-ups. He didn't really want to spar with her. He wanted to continue to train Bra. Sala had managed to save the demi-saiyan from another afternoon of grueling sparring sessions by mentioning Bra's untouched schoolwork.. Of course, the conniving saiyan made a point to mention it in Bulma's presence. Bulma demanded that it be done, or else Vegeta would pay. Vegeta could imagine what her statement and the glare that accompanied it implied ,so he ordered Bra to her homework. Bra, of course, wasn't pleased either way.

"When you're ready, I'll turn the machine on." Vegeta continued grudgingly. "You should be able to handle about 70 g's."

"How many can you handle?" Sala asked sourly, bracing herself for the answer.

"500 or so." He replied casually. Sala flopped to her back.

"Why did I think this would be fun?"

Vegeta hovered over her , his perpetual scowl taking on a serious air.

"Sparring isn't meant to be _fun_. It's meant to perfect one's fighting skills."

"I know! I just thought it would be more like when we were little and we used to spar all over the palace." Sala smiled reminiscing. "Knocking people over and wrecking the décor." 

Vegeta chuckled at the memories, then grew serious.

"That was horseplay." He corrected her and recommenced his pushups.

"It was fun."

"We're too old for horseplay."

"Aww, c'mon! You mean to tell me you never horse around with your kids?"

Vegeta replied, "Hmph, how ridiculous."

Sala scowled disapprovingly for a few moments as Vegeta continued his work-out, completely ignoring her. Suddenly she tackled him. Vegeta smashed his head of the floor, not expecting this at all. 

"DAMN IT SALA!" Vegeta screamed as they tumbled all over, smashing into the walls then the control panel. Sala laughed, thorally amused. Vegeta kept his scowl but chuckled slightly, just enough to show his amusement.. The fun came to an end when the two rolled towards the ladder leading to the lower level of the capsule. They tumbled down the hole and smashed into the floor with a huge thud. Vegeta ended up with Sala on top of him.

Sala burst into jovial laughter. Vegeta's amusement had faded quickly back into annoyance. He'd smashed his head quite hard off the ladder on the way down at least twice. He pushed himself from under her, then straddled her, pinning her to the floor firmly. Sala felt his grip tightening and was alarmed. She'd forgotten that most of their wrestling matches came to this sort of end. With Vegeta enraged and prone to do serious damage. It would seem that the saiyan prince had not learned to control his temper over the years. Out of reflex she brought her knee up between his legs.

Vegeta looked at her shocked at the bold and stupid move. If she thought he was mad before, what was she expecting that would do?

Sala laughed at the expression. Vegeta shook his head and loosened his grip on her but still kept her pinned. He examined her features for a few moments.

"You know, you turned out prettier than I imagined." Vegeta stated. "You don't look anything like I remember."

Sala chuckled. "Well, except for your hair and lack of a tail, you look pretty much the same. You're still smaller than me. I could swear I remember your father being a tall man. You take after him in every other respect, funny you should be so short."

"I don't think I take after my father." Vegeta relied, sourly.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Not a bad thing you know."

Vegeta merely shrugged in response.

Sala smiled warmly. "Did Nappa ever tell you that we had been betrothed as babies?"

"What?!" Vegeta asked wide eyed.

"Oh, I see he didn't." Sala chuckled softly. "We were supposed to be mates you and I. But I don't know if that would've happened or not. Personally, I don't think I could've mated with you. You're more like a brother than a mate?"

Vegeta regarded her with a look of confusion. "Sala, how could you know that? Everyone who could've informed you is dead."

Sala gaped, realizing her mistake much too late. 

"Vegeta..I…" She was saved from thinking up a hasty lie as Vegeta leapt off of her and looked around, slightly panicked.

"What's wrong?" Sala demanded to know as she pushed herself off the floor.

"Shut up!" Vegeta spat and concentrated all his senses. He felt a ki. 

The ki of a stranger.

Bra cursed as the pencil she was trying to balance on her nose fell to the floor. She groped to pick it up before it rolled off the balcony, when she felt _it_. The strange ki.

She got up and leaned over the balcony. Who ever it was, they were very close. Seeing nobody she transferred her gaze to the patio doors and looked inside the house. The living room was empty. 

Bra cocked a blue eyebrow confused. The ki now felt as it were in the living room. She crossed the balcony and went inside the house, letting the glass patio doors slide shut behind her. 

"What the..." Bra stammered as she strolled through the room. No one was there, yet she felt a ki. She was about to shrug it off, chalking it up to a flight of imagination despite the fact it felt completely real when it happened.

It was as if she had been hit by a truck. She propelled through the patio doors, shattering them. Then she collided into the balcony rail outside and somersaulted over it. Somehow she managed to grab onto one of the rails preventing herself from plummeting three stories to the ground.

Instinctively, she tried to pull herself up, too stunned to try and levitate to safety. She almost had the second railing in her grasp when someone grabbed her arm, wrenched her away and held her out in midair. 

Bra was confused and terrified. Someone was holding her. She could feel his/her breath condensating on her face and they chuckled menacingly. But she couldn't see this person. He or she was invisible. Not to mention fast.

"What were they afraid of you for?" a man's voice asked sinisterly.

"Let me go!" Bra screamed.

The demand was met promptly. Seconds later Bra slammed off the ground, hard. Vegeta and Sala burst out of the gravity chamber just in time to see Bra hit the ground, accompanied by a sickening thud. 

Sala screamed in horror while Vegeta looked for the attacker. He was too shocked by the attack to realize that the ki was still faintly present and at a constant level. Automatically he assumed that he had fled. He jumped off the platform and ran to help his daughter. 

After she stopped bouncing, Bra got up as quickly as she could in order to try and defend herself against this unseen assailant. Her fighting stance was unconfident, as she had no idea where her opponent was, or what kind of warrior she was even dealing with. She found out his location soon enough, right in front of her and close enough to grab her by the neck.

Bra rose from the grass, halting her father in his tracks. 

She hung in the air, her feet dangling a good four feet from the ground. She was grasping at the air as if she was clenching someone's arm. Vegeta's fatherly instincts told him to attack and kill the bastard who was doing this, but his warrior instincts soon pointed out that he had no idea how close the invisible attacker was to his daughter. Missing would ensure her death, but hitting his mark was equally dangerous given Bra's proximity to the target.

"Don't try anything , Bra." Vegeta warned in as calm a voice as he could feign. Any kind of attack, useless as it would be given her condition, would provoke the monster to finish her. Vegeta glared at his floating daughter, trying to see through the attacker's invisibility so he could retaliate. He tried to ignore the cuts and bruises all over Bra's small body. He tried not to look at the gradually spreading strip of blood streaking her turquoise hair. All these things were adding to his rage and threatened to make him attack at an inappropriate time. Whether an appropriate time would surface or not, Vegeta didn't know. But he longed for it to happen soon.

The attacker chuckled. "This mission was such a waste of my time. You people are pathetic. She's a weakling." There was silence for a moment save for the sound of something sliding over Bra's clothing. Her shirt buckled and rode up towards her chin revealing her undergarments. The man chuckled again and removed his finger from under the shirt, letting it slip back into place. "Yet, she's a pretty little thing. Pity I was ordered to dispose of her straight away."

Vegeta growled viciously. "You sick bastard! I'll _kill_ you!"

The attacker laughed obnoxiously at the threat.

"You can't kill what you can't see!"

Right on cue, Sala yelled from behind Vegeta and threw something at Bra's attacker. 

Bulma's infamous tomato sauce splattered all over the assailants arm revealing how far out it was holding Bra.. Instantaneously, Vegeta shot a finger blast at it, severing the limb from its owner's body. Bra fell to the ground with the arm still attached to her neck. She wrenched it off and gasped at the air greedily.

The monster screamed in agony and completely lost his disguise of invisibility. No longer having the edge of being visually undetectable or his hostage, the alien, of canine descent, backed away form Vegeta terrified.

Vegeta was too enraged to even smirk in victory. Without a word, he used his old method of disposing of mortal enemies. The mongrel exploded and his charred remains spread all over the lawn.

Sala sighed in relief and dropped the plastic container that once held their dinner. She knew who the attacker was and knew exactly what she had to do, therefore, she ran for the sauce while Vegeta was paralyzed by the situation.

Unexpectedly, Vegeta hauled off and slapped her across the face. Sala crashed to the ground in a crumpled heap.

"Daddy.." Bra choked out, her throat sore from being squeezed. She was appalled at what he'd just done. She knew that he used to kill people, but had never witnessed it before. She didn't understand why he continued to act violently after the enemy had been destroyed.

"What was that for?" Sala gasped and wiped blood from her lip. "If it weren't for me..."

"You said that there were no assassins on the planet yet!" Vegeta yelled.

"I said I was fairly certain. I was wrong. I'm sorry." Sala said as she staggered to her feet. 

"Sorry isn't good enough! You should have told me they could conceal themselves like that!" Vegeta yelled again.

"A few, very few, of Polkrif's men have certain "talents". I didn't see the point in worrying you by explaining every single one of them. Besides, you're a Super Saiyan for pity's sake!"

"Well, as you plainly saw, that power is useless against an invisible, unexpected enemy! Your recklessness nearly got my daughter killed!" Vegeta spat. He then turned, scooped Bra off the ground and carried her to the house. Bra looked over her father's shoulder at Sala with sympathy in her eyes.

"What you did to Sala was cruel, Daddy." Bra stated as she tried to get comfortable in her bed which was easier said than done since her back felt as if it had one massive bruise spread out from neck to tail bone.

Vegeta looked at her and heaved a sigh. He sat on the end of her bed hunched over. He was so relieved that Bra wasn't seriously injured, just severely shocked. It could have been worse. _Much_ worse. He kept trying to tell himself to be thankful for that. But he was angry too. Sala knew this enemy, not him. She should have told him everything.

"Sala saved me. Not you, you know?" Bra added. She knew that Vegeta would take offense, but it was the truth.

"I know, Bra." Vegeta stated a little impatiently. He wanted to explain himself, but Bra wouldn't understand. Vegeta was certain that Sala was lying about everything she'd told them. Vegeta did not want his ignorance of the real situation to cause his daughter's death. He heaved a frustrated sigh and got up off the bed.

"I'll apologize. Do you need anything?" 

Bra smiled. "No, thank you." She knew how hard it was for him to admit his mistakes.

Vegeta grunted in compliance. 

"Get some rest. " He ordered and left.

Vegeta shut the door to Bra's room behind him then collapsed against the wall. He'd been so close to losing her forever. 

"Vegeta..." Sala stated hesitantly. Vegeta looked up from the floor. She was standing sheepishly in the hall, scouter in hand. Her face was starting to bruise where he'd slapped her, marring her beautiful face. He pushed himself away from the wall and confronted her proudly.

"It was wrong of me to hit you Sala and I apologize." He stated gruffly.

"I never thought you'd hurt me on purpose, Vegeta. I thought we were better friends than that." Sala replied. More hurt than angry at her friend's mistreatment of her.

"I had hoped we were still friends. But friends don't lie to each other." Vegeta promptly replied.

"Vegeta I didn't..."

Vegeta gaped at her in disappointment. Assuming that she was continuing her lie. He shook off his shock and scowled viciously.

"Leave my home! I can protect Bra without you!" Then he began to charge away.

"...I didn't want to hurt you." Sala finished what she was about to say before Vegeta assumed the worst. She looked down at the scouter she had in her hand. A few tears rolled down her cheeks and fell to the carpet. "I didn't want to hurt _them_."

"Who?" Vegeta demanded. "My family? They know what I did with Frieza's men."

"But do they know how you became that man? Do they know the child I knew? The prince who would liberate the saiyans. Do they know what was placed on your shoulders at such a young age?"

"Our past, that way of life, is gone. Why bother explaining what no longer matters?"

"Oh, it matters Vegeta! I know that responsibility was what kept you going. Knowing that you were the only one left to avenge the saiyan race, Raditz was incompetent, and Nappa was a fool. You were the only one who had the brains or the courage, not to mention the motive, to do it."

Vegeta growled in agitation. He did not want to talk about this. He never wanted to talk about this, ever. Not even with Bulma and he _knew_ that he could tell her anything.

"As a child, I wanted revenge, but as I grew older I wanted the entire universe for myself!" Vegeta sighed wishing he could forget that part of his life. "I loved power. I still love power."

"Is that why you killed off everyone who hurt you, to flaunt your power? Is that why you destroyed the Ginyu force? Tell me, was Guldo the first of them to die by your hands?"

Vegeta gaped at her, it was that very memory that he tried so hard to forget. He resented her for bringing it to his mind after years of peace.

"Did you kill him to inch your way closer to your goal of dominance of the universe or did you want to avenge your mother's death?"

"I killed him!" Vegeta yelled defiantly. "Is the universe worse off because I did?"

"Would Recely want to be avenged? Would she want you to do that for her? Would she want you to risk your life, put yourself in danger after she tried so hard to keep you safe?""

Vegeta slid down the wall and sat on the floor, head in his hands.

"No, she wouldn't. But she was dead and I lived on. I wanted to avenge my shambled life." Vegeta chuckled bitterly. "I used to tell myself that I was only killing to keep Frieza from killing me. I tried to reassure myself that when I was free, I wouldn't kill anymore, that I'd rule the universe better than he did. But those reassurances slipped away with every passing year, with every planet I destroyed and every condescending word from that monster's lips. Eventually, I just wanted to hurt anything I could." Vegeta rose his dark, stubborn and sad eyes to her. "Mother could never love someone like that, who would give up on his values so easily."

More tears dropped from Sala's ebony eyes. "Oh, your mother still loves you ,Vegeta. With all her heart."

Vegeta shook his head. "No, she hated my father for being the bloodthirsty warrior he was and I turned into one a hundred times worse. At least his cruelty had the interest of our entire race in mind. My cruelty was driven by nothing but my selfish desires. I could vomit every time I think of it. I don't deserve the life I have. A comfortable home, a perfect mate, those children..."

"You were only five years old when all those horrible things happened. You knew no better...."

Vegeta confronted her grimly. "You were seven and experienced the same torment. You're not a murderer. You know full well that your father taught you better than that. And my mother taught me. I was weak."

"And I am a liar." Sala sobbed and collapsed before him on the floor. Vegeta stared at her tear streaked face. Anger started to replace his sorrow. He was angry that he even allowed his composure to break in the first place. 

"I never lived with king cold." Sala gasped. "I lived with My father and Letta and Zorn and..."

"What?" Vegeta demanded in awe before she could finish. "How?"

"It was your mother's doing. It was her plan to save you. We were all supposed to leave Planet Vegeta together the day of the Tasbah occupation. You remember that day? The Ginyu came and ruined everything when they took you." Sala wiped her tears. "We tried to get you back. We tracked you for years but we stopped after the Namek excursion when we believed that Frieza had executed you. If only we had gone to earth after Namek's destruction...."

"You knew all that, Namek and all?" Vegeta stammered. He hadn't mentioned anything about Namek to her.

Sala nodded. "We even knew that Frieza had gone to earth. The space police had sent a task force to try and deal with him before he did any more damage to the universe. His organization was hurting pretty badly, we thought we could take him out for good. But by the time we got here, he was gone and so was any suspicious power. We knew Earth to be a solitary planet, with no knowledge of the Planetary Alliance, so we decided to leave it be. Frieza was gone, that's all that mattered to us. If only we had gone down to double check , then maybe it would not have been thirty more years before we found you."

Vegeta stared at her blankly. His look of shock eventually settled back into his perpetual scowl as it all sunk in. "That makes more sense than your initial story, Sala. Yet it still does not explain your need to lie to me."

Sala hung her head shamefully. "It was wrong of me to lie. To try and make a decision that was not mine to make. Vegeta, I love your mother as if she were my own. You're like my brother for heaven's sake, you know that! I didn't want to hurt either of you. But...."Sala confronted him seriously she opened her mouth to confess something, obviously important by the mournful look on her face, when her scouter began to bleep uncontrollably. 

She remained motionless, mouthing syllables with no sound. The bleeping was distracting, she grudgingly put it on her face to read the displayed information.

She heaved a tired sigh. "Two space cruisers are heading towards Earth's atmosph....no, one's landing." Sala stared blankly at her friend in emotional exaustion.

The Prince merely stared back with a perplexed look on his face. Then he scowled. "Bra's in no condition to defend herself. This battle must not take place anywhere near her."

"I agree." Sala said , fastening her scouter to the side of her head more securely, blinking the last tears from her eyes, again becoming the warrior she was. "Get Trunks to guard Bra. That last guy was the only one I knew of who could make himself invisible, so no worries there. None of Polkrif's warriors will be any match against a fully aware Super Saiyan."

"How close is the enemy to the city?" Vegeta demanded.

"They're closing in pretty quick actually. If we hurry , we can intercept them before they get too close."

"Hmph!" Vegeta grunted slightly distressed and quickly crossed the room to the telephone.


	7. Resurrection

The Princess

Chapter 7: Resurrection

By: senzubean

I do not own Dragon Ball Z in any way. I make no profit from this story. I just wrote it for fun.

****

Authors note: I suppose I'm officially pond scum for leaving this story idle for so long. If it's any consolation, I got straight A's this semester of University :D. Anyway, I hope everyone had Happy Holidays. Enjoy the story!

Bra winced slightly as her bruised back hit the upholstery of the family sofa. Her brother sat next to her flipping through television channels at a speed too fast to be trying to decide which one to watch. 

"Where did Dad and Sala go?" Bra asked Trunks. 

"Hmmm?" Trunks asked as if just realizing she were there. "Shouldn't you be in bed?" He asked ignoring her question.

"Where'd they go?" she replied, ignoring his.

"Dad didn't say."

Bra scowled. "Come on!"

"He didn't go into specifics, but we can assume that some more guys are looking to kill you!" Trunks spat exasperated. He jumped up and peered carefully through the blinds covering the nearest window. "Dad wasn't himself." Trunks mused. "He must be rattled from that attack today."

Bra's scowl softened. "That makes two of us." She stated. "But no, that's not what's wrong. Something else is going on."

"Like what?" Trunks asked.

"I'm not sure. I heard Sala and Dad talking. Dad's voice...it sounded weird."

"Weird how? Scared? Worried?"

"No." Bra disagreed. "Sad."

Thunder rumbled high above the canopy of leaves over Sala and Vegeta's heads. 

"They're all here." Sala announced. "Although, I don't have an exact location."

"How did they get here so fast?" Vegeta demanded. "And why haven't they continued on into the city?"

"Someone's tracking them, they know that and they're being cautious."

"Hmph! My reputation precedes me." Vegeta scoffed with a smirk.

"I'm not referring to you." Sala grumbled back.

Vegeta glared at her. "Then to whom are you referring?"

"Vegeta please, I'm trying to concentrate and you aughta' do the same!" She said and returned her attention to her scouter.

The rain went form drizzling to pouring all at once. Sala and Vegeta stood back to back in silence waiting for the unseen assassins to reveal themselves for battle. Vegeta could feel several ki's and all were in very close proximity to he and his friend. But Vegeta wasn't about to seek the ki's out just yet. One ki was strange. Not because it was unknown, it was familiar and more powerful than the other two he detected. He wondered if it was one of his so called "friends" from the Z alliance but soon dismissed that theory. It was too unfamiliar to be one of those people and the ki was distinctly un- human. It was saiyan, he just knew it, and he was amazed that he subconsciously recorded ki in his memory from childhood. Back then, like every other saiyan, he relied on a scouter to identify people. But obviously some part of him felt the essence of those that surrounded him.

"Who do you believe is here?" Vegeta rephrased his previous question, and stated it a little nastier this time around. 

Sala quietly replied, "Probably two of Polkrif's elite soldiers. He sends lone warriors first, then pairs them up for further excursions."

"I meant the ship you detected earlier. I can tell that there is a saiyan here. Who is it?"

Sala fumbled with her scouter. "I don't know. " she mumbled. "Tuce, or my father, maybe."

Vegeta hmph'd at her stubbornness. It was a simple question. Why was she avoiding answering it?

The silence that surrounded the two warriors was shattered by a surprised cry punctuated by a headless corpse plummeting through the canopy and landing mere meters away. The head joined it promptly. Vegeta watched it roll around helplessly until it came to a halt, face up, blank eyes staring at him. It wasn't a saiyan. Vegeta's old acquaintance had taken care of one of the nuisant assassins for him.

Not so far off the trees shifted under the weight of someone pushing off into the air. The action was coupled by a war cry and above the leafy roof; two warriors began to exchange blows. The saiyan was uttering war cries in response to those of her partner's. The pitch of the voice indicated that the saiyan was female.

"That's supposed to be Tuce, or your father?" Vegeta asked accusingly, angered that Sala was still lying to him. "Who _is_ that saiyan?"

Sala glared at him. "You'll find out soon enough!" 

Sala was right. Seconds later, a small female saiyan landed a few hundred feet away. Dark clouds blocked the sun, allowing minimal light to filter through the heavy foliage. Vegeta was unable to identify the woman because of the environmental conditions. He was about to tell her to identify herself, but was unable to speak before she did. The woman turned to Sala and spoke a single word; in a language Vegeta hadn't heard spoken in ages. Simply and forcefully, she told Sala to "Run!"

Sala gasped slightly, then looked up as the trees parted to allow a massive body to pass through to the ground. The earth trembled as the woman landed. A huge woman. 

Vegeta studied her and monitored her ki. It was rising. He wondered where the warrior came from. Like all the other aliens that came after Bra, this species was unknown to him.

"This is a forbidden planet. You should not have come here." The saiyan stated in universal tongue.

"I go where Polkrif pays me to go." The horned monster belched back and then charged at her opponent. The saiyan, who was dwarfed compared to the assassin, jumped out of the way, back up into the trees. The assassin plowed right through the thick trunks, snapping them like twigs. Sala and Vegeta were forced to move or else be pinned to the ground.

Despite her obvious weight, the alien returned to the air within seconds and the two opponents could be heard pummeling each other and uttering cries of both indignation and pain. The saiyan, unfortunately, was uttering more of the pain-laden kind.

"You have to do something!" Sala yelled to Vegeta. "She can't win this one alone!"

"Hmph! It's not my place to step in. Really, Sala! Didn't your father teach you anything about warrior's pride?"

"There's no room for it here! She's lost to this woman before!"

Right on cue, the saiyan plummeted to the ground, colliding with branches along the way. She landed face down on a pile of broken tree limbs.

Sala shrieked and took off towards her. The alien landed right in her path causing her to stumble backwards. Vegeta hmph'd in disgust. He could've told her that would happen, but he figured that she'd realize it herself.

"I suggest you get lost, honey." The big alien sneered down at Sala, placing her fists on her massive hips. "Your friend ain't gettin' out of this one alive." 

Sala hissed viciously up at the obstruction as the fallen saiyan managed to get up a little. 

"Sala, go to our ship!" The woman spat desperately in saiyan.

The alien growled deeply in frustration. "Talk in a language I can understand you damned, dirty saiyans!"

Sala spat something very nasty back, in saiyan. The alien assumed by the look on Sala's face that she'd just been insulted, and hauled off and slapped the diminutive fighter away.

Sala slammed against a tree and landed nearly unconscious.

Vegeta watched all this go on and prepared himself for battle. Not at all pleased at having to step in to finish a so called "saiyan elite's" fight. 

The previously fallen saiyan's ki escalated rapidly, slowing Vegeta's own power summance. She yelled at the top of her lungs, absolutely enraged at the attack on Sala.

The assassin yelled in anger. "Why won't you just die!?" The saiyan continued to yell as she rose to her feet. Her power continued to grow. A yellow aura of energy pulsated around her, lighting up the entire forest. Finally, Vegeta could get a decent look at her but still; he drew a blank as to whom she was. 

The saiyan stopped yelling and growled from the pit of her stomach. The alien laughed at her attempts to gain an advantage. Vegeta continued to study her. She looked so familiar to him but.....

A giant clap of thunder caused the earth to shake and at that moment he realized who she was.

"M...mother?"

The saiyan barked out her loudest yell yet and shot into the air. Once there she curled up into a ball, focused all her energy then let it lose in all directions. Recely, queen of the saiyans had become a saiyan legend.

"Mother..." Vegeta stammered. Her long black hair waved above her head in golden waves, a golden tail coiled around her thin waist.

The alien sighed with ennui, "Not this again."

Vegeta turned his attention to the would- be assassin. 

__

Again? He wondered. Obviously she wasn't at all rattled at his mother's substantial increase in power. He looked back up to his mother wondering if perhaps this was somehow wrong. But there she was, his mother, a super saiyan, her ki gave off the proper frequency and everything. 

Soon he saw why the alien wasn't terrified. His mother's hair returned to black for a split second.

__

She can't control her power. No wonder that alien's not afraid. She knows that if mother loses that transformation there's no guarantee she'll regain it! 

Vegeta watched the battle that ensued. His mother's ki fluctuated gravely, it reminded Vegeta of Bra's ki the night of the tournament. Her hair went from gold to black periodically. This battle was not a good place for her to practice controlling her power. 

The fight stopped for a few moments, both warriors at a stalemate, each looking to gain an advantage. Recely struggled to control her fluctuating ki, trying desperately to accumulate enough to finish her opponent. The assassin was watching her intently, waiting for the moment her transformation would finally end.

"Give it up, honey." The huge monster chuckled. "You know that power is gonna go and leave you weaker than an infant!"

Recely growled at her fiercely, angered that the monster was right.

"I almost feel bad for you, you washed up old monkey. I didn't come here for that little bitch comrade of yours." She motioned her head to the still stunned Sala. 

"You know it's against universal law to descend upon an un chartered planet. I know you would only come here to do damage. I could never turn my back on that!" Recely snapped back.

The alien laughed. "You didn't even know the extent of damage I was planning to do. I was sent here to destroy a little girl. One, pathetic little girl." She smirked evilly. "Prince Vegeta's daughter."

Recely's face twisted in bitter rage. "Liar! He was executed by Frieza over thirty years ago! Everyone knows that!"

"What can I say? Ya shouldn't believe everything you're told. That girl exists and, well, you know about the prophecy."

"Shut up! You're wrong! About all of that, you're wrong!"

"What do you care about the daughter of Prince Vegeta anyway? It's disturbing that a scumbag like that survived, let alone spawned a little brat! The universe would be better off without all of you monkey tailed abominations, especially that bastard Prince!"

Enraged, Recely fired upon the assassin. The attack was sloppy and it would've missed had the alien moved or not.

"HAHAHA! You're one funny little varmint! I'm going to miss these scuffles of ours."

Recely landed on a tree branch and hyperventilated. 

"This ends now!" She vowed and raised her arm over her head. A white sphere appeared on her palm.

Vegeta recognized it immediately. 

__

An artificial moon. _She's wants to transform._ He acknowledged that it was a great natural power resource, but obviously, she wanted to transform while super saiyan and multiply that power tenfold. A good idea, but only if you could control the power you already had.

"No, don't!" Vegeta yelled at her. Recely didn't even hear. She drew her arm back to release it to the sky.

Vegeta jumped from the shadows and tackled her just before she let it fly. The two super saiyans landed with slop on the drenched ground. Recely had lost the artificial moon, not to mention her transformation. She was shocked for a minute, and as soon as she realized what had happened, started spitting some nasty saiyan swear words. Vegeta looked down at her dumbfounded. He didn't remember his mother ever using the phrases she was speaking now.

Recely yelled in complete and utter choler. "YOU IDIOT! HOW DARE YOU INTERFERE WITH MY BATTLE!?" She elbowed him hard in the ribs. It didn't really hurt him but let his mother go, as that was obviously what she wanted. She whirled around taking a fighting stance and confronted him. "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU.........you.... you are...." Recely blinked a few times then collapsed to her knees. She lifted her tear-streamed eyes to him, looked at his face. 

Vegeta's scowl softened and reached a hand out to her. 

"What the.... who are you?" The assassin demanded, diverting the Prince's attention. He stepped discreetly around his mother and confronted her.

"I'm the scumbag, bastard prince who's going to destroy you."

The alien looked surprised for a second, and then began to laugh. "Well, I hope you can control that power better than that weak little bitch behind you. Otherwise, you won't stand a chance!"

Vegeta scowled viciously at his opponent and stated. "My mother isn't weak." He blasted her to oblivion as soon as the words sunk in to her thick skull. For the second time that day he littered the planet with alien guts.

He went back to his mother, who was now completely hunched over wreaking devastated sobs, her face practically in the mud. 

Vegeta collapsed to his knees before her, merely staring down at her small form, not knowing what to say. He said the only thing he could think of. "I'm sorry, Mother."

Recely snapped her head back to look at him in the eyes. "You're sorry? I'm the one who should be sorry! I made a promise to you and I broke it! Don't you remember? Don't you hate me for that?"

. "I could never...."

"I should have found you! I should have never stopped looking. Why did I believe what I didn't see?"

"Because you couldn't see what was real."? Vegeta replied. He ran his hand along her cheek. "I'd forgotten your face. But never what you taught me, mother."

With that, Recely threw her arms around his neck.

"I've missed you so much." She sobbed in his ear. 

Sala stumbled a little unsteadily over to them. She was shedding joyful tears.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Vegeta asked. Not understanding why she felt she could not.

"Would you have believed me?" Sala smiled.

Vegeta let himself slip from super saiyan and held his mother closer.


	8. How She Survived

The Princess

Chapter 8: How She Survived

By: senzubean

I do not own Dragon Ball Z in any way. I make no profit from this story. I just wrote it for fun.

"So...she's your mother?" Bulma asked quietly in a strained voice. The Briefs' living room was silent. Everyone was staring at his or her feet. Trunks and Bra scanned the new addition discreetly, both in awe at their Saiyan Grandmother. Sala hadn't said a word since they got back. And Recely looked as if she had seen better days. Vegeta was sprawled over his favorite armchair, emotionally exhausted. 

"Yes Bulma. My answer wont change no matter how many times you ask." He replied calmly, without any of his usual exasperation or crankiness.

"Oh." Bulma mumbled and stared at her lap. Abruptly, she raised her eyes to Recely, who was sitting directly across from her. "Then where the hell have you been?" She snapped nastily.

"Bulma!" Vegeta scolded.

"You told me she was killed when you were five? Obviously you were mistaken about that! So, where the hell was she?" Bulma snapped right back at him. 

Vegeta was about to tell her that he didn't care. That it didn't matter. But his mother stopped him before he could.

"You have a right to know, Vegeta. I'm surprised you didn't ask."

Vegeta stared at her for a few moments, noting her pronunciation of universal words with a saiyan accent. A voice that he'd all but forgotten.

"How did you survive?" Vegeta eventually asked. "You looked dead to me."

Recely smiled. "You were very young and couldn't tell the difference. I was very close to dying but was lucky to have Sala and Tuce nearby. They helped me to a rejuvenation tank."

Sala snorted. "Yeah right, we were all lucky. Lucky that the Ginyu were a bunch of morons. They had scouters and everything and they didn't even check for escapees!" 

"Well, I for one am grateful that they were unprofessional about it. But of course, they still managed to get what they came for." Recely replied and looked at her son. "I wish I had not have listened to Zorn and taken you with me right away. I had a gut feeling that leaving you at the Palace was a mistake." Recely stopped talking and tried to battle the sobs bubbling up from her throat. 

"Taken me where, Mother? You know that Frieza would have tracked me down. There was no safe place from him."

"There was." Recely disagreed. "Zorn located it. After I was healed enough to leave the palace we all went to Planet Yuisgro. It's a very small planet in the Ghourdlo system."

Vegeta cocked an eyebrow. "I know that system. It was on Frieza's prospective planets list. But there was no Planet Yuisgro catalogued." 

"Frieza's men were unable to locate it. Very few astronomers had. It was commonly mistaken for a moon orbiting the largest planet in the system. Yuisgro is a farming planet with only a few thousand inhabitants. The citizens lead simple lives with very little technology and before we came there, they had absolutely no means of defending themselves against invaders that pillaged their lands. As a handful of elite saiyans, we were welcomed with open arms."

"A hidden planet...." Vegeta mumbled in disbelief.

Recely slowly nodded. "Yes, Dearest. Frieza did not know about it, and he never found out. Of course we did have safe guards in case he ever did. I'm glad that we were never forced to leave. We've become quite fond of the people there." Recely smiled to punctuate that fact. Then her face fell back into solemnity. "But we never forgot about you, Vegeta. We followed you, looking for an opportunity to sneak you off back to our new home. The proper opportunity never arose and the older you got the harder it was to keep up with you."

Vegeta blushed a deep crimson, embarrassed at how many successive occupations he went on as a teenager and young adult. 

"There were many times that we were so close. It almost drove me insane. That time on Frieza's ship...."

"Y..You were on Frieza's ship." Vegeta asked hesitantly, he thought carefully for a moment. "It _was_ you there! I heard you! You yelled out my name!"

That was one instance Vegeta could remember in crystal clarity, despite the fact he had just been woken up by the commotion outside the cell he had been put in. That instance had always plagued him. He'd though he'd dreamt his mother calling out to him in that desperate, piercing voice. Now he understood what had happened. His mother had been plowing through the ship, fighting all of Frieza's men. She'd risked her life for him.

Vegeta went pale. "Y...you were actually there...that close." He blinked a few times trying to regain his senses so that he could continue in a more dignified manner, trying to ignore the gaping stares of his wife and children.

"Why?" Vegeta managed to articulate.

"Why was I there?" Recely asked she swallowed hard and lowered her eyes. "Your father believed that I was dead and I wanted to keep it that way. I was sure if he knew that I had abducted you from him that he'd seek us out. Then I learned how badly you had been adjusting to life with Freiza's, how you'd almost been killed. I wanted to get you out of there as soon as possible, so I went back to your father and demanded his assistance." She looked back up at her child sorrowfully. "He complied willingly and he and his best warriors accompanied me to Frieza's ship. Your father took his army to Frieza while I went to retrieve you." She explained carefully. "Th..They served their purpose well..your father and the elite." Recely clenched the cloth of her pant legs, unsuccessful in holding back her tears. "I knew what would happen to your father. I tried to convince myself that with all those elite with him he would have a chance, but I knew better. So did your father but he went anyway, knowing he was going to die. But I was wrong about him not wanting you to live with me; he wanted us to go to that planet together.I... I'm sorry that I took your father away from you, Vegeta." No longer could she hold back her sobs and she quietly hunched over in attempts to hide her actions. Sala got up to comfort her but was halted as Vegeta abruptly rose.

"B..but you didn't retrieve me. How did you survive Frieza's punishment?"

Recely tried to control her sobs and answer but Sala replied instead. 

"Frieza wanted to make her suffer for such a traitorous act against him. Instead of killing her outright, he sent her to a recently occupied planet. It was devoid of practically everything necessary to sustain life. She was only there for two hours before Zorn was able to retrieve her and bring her home."

Vegeta stared at the floor silently. Slowly, his fists clenched and a low growling emanated from his throat. 

"It all seems so simple." He practically snarled.

"It does, doesn't it?" Recely sobbed. "I'm sorry, Vegeta. I broke my promise to you."

He looked at his Mother's small body, wreaking mournful sobs. He struggled to set his face back to its natural form, the natural scowl that both he and his son had been born with. Eventually he released all the tension in his body. Although still angry at how everything had happened against his poor mother's attempts, he resigned to the fact that it was all in the past and, taking a deep breath, prepared himself for the future. He looked down at his mother as she wiped her eyes and suddenly felt a wave of fear pass over him.

"I..I'll go prepare a guest room." He announced and quickly disappeared down the hall. Trunks, Bra and Bulma all gaped at him, shocked.

"Vegeta!" Bulma finally exclaimed and ran after him.

Bra and Trunks just stared after them. Bra whimpered slightly, never seeing her father this upset. 

Recely desperately wiped her eyes and slowly sat up, taking deep deliberate breaths.

Sala went back to her place on the sofa as soon as she was convinced that Recely had been consoled.

Everyone was silent save for the occasional gasp from Recely as she continued her attempt to control her emotions.

"I'm hungry." Trunks eventually stated quietly. "Is anyone else hungry?" He didn't wait for an answer and was in the kitchen seconds later fumbling with pots and utensils.

Bra, Sala and Recely sat in the living room, all staring at invisible points on the floor and walls. No one was making a sound.

Bra soon found her attention drift over to her grandmother. She studied her curiously. She loved her grandparents on her mother's side. She had always wondered if she would have loved her saiyan grandparents too. From the little information her father told her about her grandfather, Bra concluded that he was not the kind of person she would have liked to spend time with. Her father had not given her any information whatsoever about her grandmother though. He said he didn't remember. Now her grandmother was there for her to learn about directly. As she looked at her, relaying her speech in her mind, she decided that she did feel love towards this woman.

As soon as Bra had finished that thought, Recely's curiosity had also gotten he better of her and looked over at her grand daughter. 

Bra quickly averted her gaze and blushed, embarrassed that she'd been caught staring.

"How did you get that bruise?" Recely asked forcefully. It was a tone that did not seem to indicate a request, or concern. It was as if were a demand. So, Bra promptly answered.

"One of those assassin guys did it earlier today."

"What?" Recely exclaimed. "Why was I not informed?" She continued and stood up.

"Vegeta took care of him." Sala replied.

Recely grumbled, slightly distressed at that fact. "Who was it?"

"Dobser." Sala said.

"The concealer?" Recely stated. "Polkrif has deployed his best even at this stage." She added gravely.

Sala chuckled. "Look on the bright side, he's already lost some of his best. If you ask me, things are working in our favor."

"I wouldn't say that just yet, Sala." Recely disagreed. "His best...." She looked down at Bra, who was trying her best not to appear terrified in reaction to this conversation. 

"What kind of power do you possess, Bra?"

Bra looked at Recely embarrassed. She knew that compared to the rest of her royal family, she did not come close to measuring up. "I don't know why he would want me dead. I haven't reached the level of Super Saiyan."

Recely growled softly in displeasure. Not at Bra, but at Polkrif's belief in a power that was non-existent. Unfortunately, Bra could not read minds. She tried to sink as far back into the sofa as she could, feeling completely unworthy of the saiyan race.

"Vegeta! What is wrong with you?" Burma demanded and grabbed her husband's arm as he pulled all of the linen out of the hall closet. "You can't just leave your poor Mother in there to deal with this by herself. You need to talk to her." She pulled on his arm trying to get him to comply.

"I can't. I don't know what to say." He wrenched himself out of hr grasp and went into one of their many guest rooms and started to make the bed. Of course, having never made a bed before it was proving to be difficult.

Bulma watched him struggle, disturbed and worried by his drastic change in behavior. He was acting as if he was shy,or afraid. 

Vegeta spat a curse as the corner of the bed sheet slipped off as he tried to secure the opposite one. He reached over to readjust it and Bulma caught his hand and held it.

"You didn't act like this when you found Sala. Why is your Mother different?"

Surprisingly Vegeta did not immediately dismiss her question. He stared at her hand in his then gently squeezed it and looked at her face.

"As a boy, Mother did for me what you did for me as an adult." Vegeta explained. "You cared about me. In my entire life, only you and my Mother took care of me and asked for nothing in return." 

Bulma started to tear up, "Vegeta..."

He caressed her hand between his thumb and palm. "You don't know how much I appreciate what you did for me, Bulma. I have never understood why you chose to help me in the first place. I didn't deserve it. I decided a long time ago that I had to repay you for giving me that chance and so I've tried to be a better husband and father and I know that I'm not trying nearly hard enough. But you see, with Mother I can't repay what she did for me. I can't be a better son for her. I can never reclaim the innocence that I possessed as a child and it was that innocent child she loved, not what I became with Frieza. So, tell me. How I am to say that to one of the two women I love so much."

Bulma wiped tears from her eyes. " If Trunks or Bra ever destroyed a planet, would you stop loving them?"

Vegeta scowled. "I don't see how that question is supposed to help? Trunks and Bra would never do that."

"Just pretend if they did."

"I can't pretend that, they would never do such a thing."

"Fine!" Bulma spat in frustration. "Then what if they did something you objected to? Would you stop loving them?"

Vegeta sighed exasperated. "I could never stop loving the children."

Bulma smiled. "That's because you're a parent and you love them unconditionally."

"Hmph!" Vegeta spat annoyed pulling his hand from Bulma's. "There was never a question as to whether Mother still loved me or not. My question is whether or not I deserve her love and the answer is no!" Vegeta got up off the bed and crossed the room to an open window.

"I need some time alone, Bulma. Take care of my mother for me." With that he disappeared into the night air. Bulma was left kneeling on the bed, holding her hand to her chest.

"Vegeta...."

Back in the living room, not much had changed. Recely and Bra had started to converse, but it was broken up with lengthy breaks of silence.

"Hey Recely," Sala asked during one such break. "Where did you leave the ship? These earthlings aren't used to anything other-worldly."

"It's alright. I left Letta with...Letta!" Recely jumped off the sofa. 

As if on cue, a ruckus broke out in the kitchen.

"Let me go!" a voice yelled from the kitchen, coupled with the sound of dishes and pots smashing and clanging to the floor.

"Not until you tell me who you are!" 

Recely, Sala and Bra ran from the living room to inspect the disturbance. There was Trunks trying to wrestle down a wriggling and contorting opponent. The door to the back yard swung freely in the breeze, indicating that Trunks had caught his prisoner outside.

"Let me go! Or I'll kick your ass!" the adversary, a female exclaimed.

Sala burst out laughing.

"Just try it, Letta! I dare ya!"

Letta growled viciously. "Shut up Sala! At least I'm not stupid!"

Sala scowled. "That's it. I've had enough of you. Kill her, Trunks."

"Huh?" Trunks and Letta mumbled simultaneously.

Recely sighed annoyed. "It's alright, Trunks. It's just Letta. She's part of our family."

"Oh, Sorry." Trunks exclaimed and let Letta drop to the floor. 

Letta jumped to her feet. "Just Letta?!" She exclaimed, appalled. "Just Letta who chauffeurs you around the universe! Just Letta who creates all those fancy technologies for you! Just Letta who gets left alone in the middle of nowhere guarding a huge, inconspicuous space ship wondering what the hell happened to her family!"

"I'm sorry, Letta. We've been occupied here with something very important. " Recely replied over her sister's escalating voice.

Letta shrugged. "As long as you're safe. What is this place anyway?" She scanned the room and looked right at Trunks.

"Say...you look awfully familiar!" 

Sala, Trunks and Bra were all floored. Only Recely maintained her air of calmness. 

"Who do you think he looks like?"

Letta studied trunks intently for a second or two. "Well, he looks like a twisted version of Vegeta. His face is practically identical, don't you think?"

Recely smiled. "Yes. Vegeta has been living on this planet ever since Frieza's demise. He did not die as we had believed. This is his son, Trunks."

Letta stared at trunks wide eyed.

"I can't believe it." Letta stated quietly and turned to Recely. "How could we have made that mistake?"

Recely returned a defeated look not having an answer.

It was early morning, the sun had not yet risen. Vegeta landed softly in his backyard and stared at his darkened home. He did not want to return, but knew that he couldn't just ignore the situation. His mother was the one person he had been thankful wasn't around to see his past misdeeds. Why did she have to come back right after he'd finally put his terrible past behind him?

Why couldn't she have come back when he'd wanted her to? 

He leapt up onto the balcony as naturally as if he'd stepped through a doorway. He turned and leaned over the rail and decided to ponder some more before venturing into his bedroom where he would undoubtedly be lectured on how rudely he had acted and how his wife did not appreciate the awkward position he had put her in. For once in his life he was actually sorry to inconvenience her but he doubted that he could make her understand his point of view. Not without divulging intricate details of his past and he wasn't willing to go there.

His shoulders slouched and he heaved a heavy sigh.

"Hello, Vegeta."

He started and quickly turned to the dark corner where his mother was standing. She pushed herself from the wall and walked into his view. Vegeta froze in shock at her sudden appearance, knowing that he had to do what he did not feel ready to attempt. He desperately searched his mind, trying to pick something, anything to say.

"Is something troubling you, Dearest?" Recely prompted, sounding a tad hurt because of her son's refusal to acknowledge her

"Of course!" Vegeta was surprised to find himself practically yelling. The anger he felt taking precedence over the many other emotions enveloping him at this point. It was the natural choice, the emotion he was most experienced in dealing with. "How could I have been so blind? I didn't see you before my very eyes!"

Recely looked at him sympathetically. "That was my fault not yours. You weren't expecting me to be alive. It was my responsibility to reunite us and I failed." She lowered her eyes to the ground. "I should have tried harder."

"Tried harder? You should have stopped trying altogether!"

"You are my son, I would have never stopped!" She sighed. "If I had've known there were such a thing as Dragonballs in this universe...I would've gone after them and wished for you to come back to me."

"Would you have asked the dragon to abolish me of evil?" Vegeta demanded seriously getting to his point as quickly as he could.

Recely's eyes narrowed in frustration. "Why would I? You're not evil."

"Hmph!" Vegeta scoffed in disgust. It was obvious that his Mother held the opinion that Bulma said she would. He felt an uncontrollable urge to fly away again. The only thing holding him back was the fact that Recely was sure to follow.

"You were never evil!" Recely argued forcefully.

"Not even when I was destroying the people of the planets I was sent to occupy? Not even when I destroyed the inhabitants of planets Frieza didn't order me to? I enjoyed it Mother. That's just fact." Vegeta glared sternly, desperately trying not to falter. "I..I failed you. I tarnished your memory with the blood of innocent victims. What kind of Legacy have I created for you? How can you still love me after I destroyed your pride?"

"Pride?" Recely erupted. "Pride! Do you mean pride as a saiyan? I had no pride in that sense but I did have pride as a mother! I destroyed my own sense of pride when I failed to protect you! What kind of mother is inept at protecting her child? An unfit one that's what! I never wanted a legacy I wanted my son! I don't care what you did. If you destroyed a planet tomorrow I still wouldn't care." Recely yelled the last part of her statement more forcefully than the rest and looked up at her son with a tear-streamed face. "If anyone should be angry it should be you."

Vegeta gaped at her for a few moments, remembering her well concealed fiery temperament that rarely surfaced, but was violent when it did.

"It wasn't your fault." he replied meekly.

"I should have seen it coming sooner. I should have taken you away when your father started mistreating you" Recely replied and fell to her knees mournfully. "Nappa was right. I was just a foolish little girl from the woods." 

Vegeta stood there, staring at her as once again, she struggled to control the upsurge of emotion. Unable to bear the sight of her any longer he turned his head to the gradually illuminating sky.

"Vegeta," she stated calmly. "I don't want to argue about this anymore. It's a waste of time. It doesn't matter whose to blame. It doesn't matter what happened in the past. What matters is our future together. Forget about trying to determine whether or not we deserve each other. The fact is we are meant to be together." She looked up at him with desperate red eyes. "Promise that you'll do this for me. Because I don't want to leave you again."

Vegeta watched as she tried to keep her face from contorting into mournful sobs. He still felt unworthy of her but decided that if there was a way to repay her for the anguish he caused this promise would be as close as he would come. 

"I promise ,Mother. I would be honored if you became a part of my family." With that he extended a hand to her. Recely smiled and took it. As soon as she was off the ground she flung herself around Vegeta's neck and started to sob into his chest. 

Vegeta stood there helplessly. Again, not knowing how to react. Wondering if all this hugging was going to become a frequent event and if so, just how he was going to maintain his warrior's air.


	9. Change

The Princess

Chapter 9: Change

By: senzubean

I do not own Dragon Ball Z in any way. I make no profit from this story. I just wrote it for fun.

The distinct sound of two opponents sparring rang out through the late morning air. Two fighters grunted and yelled at each other as each tried to gain the upper hand. They were well matched despite the fact one was substantially younger than the other. The latter not learning any obvious lessons, yet learning something extremely valuable.

Something she'd always wanted to know.

The Prince of the saiyans observed the sparring session from the camouflage of venetian blinds. His onyx eyes narrowed as he witnessed every perfect blow dealt by his protégé.

"Breakfast is ready!" announced Bulma from the kitchen. Vegeta remained stationary. Bulma noticed the absence of the usual rush for food and came to investigate.

"Vegeta, breakfast." She repeated. The smell of charred foodstuffs finally reached the prince's nostrils.

"I heard you." Vegeta replied a little impatiently and did not take his eyes off the fight outside.

"Go call Bra and your mom so we can eat it!" Bulma snapped. Sala Trunks and Letta could be heard talking in the kitchen, indicating they had beat the mealtime rush.

Vegeta grunted and brushed past Bulma towards their bedroom.

"You call them!"

Bulma watched him stalk off, annoyed with his unusually rude behavior since their guests had arrived. "I aughta spit in your corn flakes." She muttered.

Breakfast passed smoothly considering there was three additional full blooded saiyans present. Bulma was sure she'd run into the problem of not having prepared enough, but it turns out there were leftovers. Of course the leftovers would've been less than what Vegeta would've eaten had he been there. Everyone departed, Trunks to work, Bra to unfinished homework and Sala and Letta to general exploring, only leaving Recely to help Bulma with the cleanup, which, again to Bulma's surprise, she quickly engaged.

"I can get it, Recely. Just sit and relax."

"I enjoy housework. It reminds me of better times gone by."

Bulma blinked confused then chuckled. "I never would've thought a Queen would clean house."

Recely laughed. "Well, I wasn't always a Queen, you know? Once upon a time I was a typical domestic." She sighed sadly. "But things change." She brought the dishes to the sink and started to fill it up as Bulma returned the condiments in their rightful spots.

"It was a wonderful meal Bulma, thank you."

"Oh it wasn't that wonderful."

"You're too modest. I only wish my son had been here."

Bulma grunted annoyed. "I don't know what's come over him, Recely. He usually isn't _this_ rude."

"He's still upset. I don't think he believed what I told him last night." Recely replied sadly as she wiped a plate clean. She set it down and turned to Bulma. "You know him better than anyone, how can I make him understand that…that I don't care about what happened in the past? I thought I got through to him, but obviously I didn't."

Bulma looked at her seriously. " Vegeta definitely knows how to guard his secrets, you may never know exactly what he's feeling now. But Don't worry. I think his behavior is mostly a reflection of his concern for Bra's safety, both in terms of the hit men and this new 'power' of hers. Vegeta doesn't want to hurt you, Recely. That's the last thing he wants from this new found relationship."

Recely smiled. "I'll help him then. I'll destroy Polkrif. And as for this power of Bra's, there must be some way that I can help with that too."

Bulma smiled warmly. "I'm sure Vegeta will appreciate your assistance." Recely nodded accordingly and turned back to her work. 

"Can I ask you another question." Recely asked after a pause.

"Of course." Bulma replied.

"I was just wondering how you two got together?" 

"Well," Bulma smiled and put down her dishcloth. "After we all got back from Namek, he was all alone. I'll never forget the look on his face. He looked so lost, like he had no idea as to what he was going to do."

Recely's features softened as her heart sank at that statement. Bulma elaborated. 

"It wasn't an obvious look of fear, it was very subtle. I don't think anyone else noticed, and to be completely honest, I don't know how I did. I was quite the shallow young lady in my youth. At that moment, I realized that if we left him alone then there would be no hope to change his outlook on life, and no hope for the universe if he kept on the path he was following. So, I asked him to stay with my family." Bulma chuckled. "He never has given me a decent answer when I ask him why he agreed to come with me." She then smiled fondly "The relationship I established with Vegeta matured me. He made me see life in a new way. I guess we both gave each other something that we needed to define our existences." Bulma paused, a wry smile passing over her lips. "Besides, he's quite attractive. His ass is especially nice."

"What?" Recely asked shocked that Bulma had said that so casually.

"He's got a great ass! I always thought it was cute."

Recely burst laughing and doubled over the sink. Bulma's wry smile became even wider. 

"So, did King Vegeta have a nice ass too?"

Recely laughed even harder at that.

Bra leaned against the wall just opposite her parent's bedroom. She could tell that her father was in there. And she knew that he was aware of her presence too. Yet he didn't come out. It was up to Bra. She inhaled slowly, building up her nerve and opened the door. 

The room was in its usual state. Ever since Bra could remember, it looked this way. Her mother's clothes were strewn about the floor just like Bra's were in her own room. The bed was always unmade and there was not one visible object in there that had any connection to her father. Like his emotions, thoughts, and past, his things were always kept tucked away, out of sight.

Bra walked across the room and slid open the glass doors to the balcony. Vegeta sat on the railing staring off into the noonday sky.

"What?" He asked un-affectionately, making Bra feel as if she were a nuisance, which in Vegeta's opinion right now she was. For once in his life he did not want to talk to his little princess. The realization frightened him a bit, but still, he wanted nothing to do with her at this point.

Bra swallowed the sorrow she was feeling, knowing that she had to address her father's feelings before her own. 

"Daddy, the last thing I wanted to do was hurt you."

Vegeta grunted. "Why would I be hurt?" He said defensively, but inside that's just how he felt.

"Because I willingly trained with Grandma today and instead of you."

Vegeta didn't know how to answer that, so he spat. "Since when did you start calling her Grandma?"

"Since she said I could." Bra explained dryly, not about to let him change the subject. Then looked at him right in the eyes. "Dad, I really want to train with Grandma. I think it's better this way. I don't know her. But I know you, and that's why it's so hard training with you."

"Hard? It's not hard! You make it hard!" Vegeta snapped losing his temper with the whole awkward situation.

"You expect to much!"

Vegeta's eyebrows furrowed in ascending rage. "Listen child! Make this stick in that forgetful little head of yours! You have a power that has the potential to _kill_ you!"

Bra quickly took an expression imitative of that of her father's.

"You've always expected too much! Do you have any idea how much pressure you've put on me?" she exclaimed voice rising with each syllable. "I know you're disappointed that I haven't become a super saiyan!"

Vegeta stammered. "I am not!" But again, it was true. Bra was more like him in temperament, while Trunks tended to be like his mother. He was sure Bra would've become a super saiyan before age eight, like Trunks had. But when her eighth, then ninth, and tenth birthdays came and went, he grew more and more disappointed.

Bra heaved a sigh in order to calm herself. "Dad, let's not argue about this. I like the time we spend together training, but it's your company I'm interested in and not the fighting. It's all about this stupid power now and not about you and me. I'm going to train with Grandma from now on, if she agrees."

Vegeta regarded his daughter sympathetically. He too noticed her lack of committal to fighting, he even knew that she only trained because it pleased _him_. But the situation was different now.

"Bra," He said gently. "I know you're curious about saiyan women, considering that since before Sala showed up you were the only one. But now is not the time to be exploring training methods. This is far from a casual technique to master."

"But Daddy, your training methods haven't worked. I think if I trained with someone whom I was unfamiliar on a personal level…."

Vegeta jumped down from the railing and stood over her.

"The problem isn't the method, Bra! You're not putting enough effort into it! I know you have the heart for it, I saw it this morning! Why were you fighting so damned well with my Mother? You never fight like that with me!"

"I just explained it! You're not listening! You never listen to anyone but yourself!"

With that Bra ran back into the house, her task un-accomplished, and Vegeta's un-accomplished as well.

Bulma and Recely exited the kitchen laughing. As they entered the living room, Recely noticed some family photos on the wall and went to look at them.

"It took me a long time to get Vegeta to let me take pictures of him. I never was able to get him to smile though." Bulma said. 

Recely looked all the pictures over. Sure enough, Vegeta was stoic in every single one of them. She finally focused on a picture of Trunks when he was about three or four, smiling wide, mouth open as if in mid laugh. 

Recely smiled. "Look at this." She stated and reached into the inside of her shirt, near her heart. She pulled out a piece of multi-folded paper. She took out what was wrapped inside, a wallet sized photo, and she held it up next to Trunks'.

Bulma gaped at the picture. It was nearly identical to the one of her son except for a mass of messy black hair and two missing front teeth.

"My goodness….." Bulma stammered as she examined the picture of her husband not only smiling sincerely, but laughing.

"How old was he?" was the only thing Bulma could think to say.

"Three. This was taken just before his father separated us."

"Separated?"

Recely nodded but didn't elaborate. "Trunks looks so much like his father. I always wondered what Vegeta would turn out looking like. You're lucky to have seen your children grow. Until yesterday, Vegeta was still a little child in my mind. It's as if he grew up overnight."

Bulma reached out to comfort her mother-in-law but was brutally interrupted as Bra ran down the hall with Vegeta close behind. The two retreated outside letting the screen door slam violently behind them, Vegeta was yelling at Bra to stop. 

Bulma instinctively ran after them in order to try and break up what appeared to be a devastating verbal fight brewing. Bra took off into the air and of course, Vegeta followed suit.

Sala and Letta were also startled by the commotion and were quickly on the scene just in time to see Vegeta disappear.

"Should I go after them?" Sala asked Bulma. "Maybe I could provide an outsiders perspective to their argument."

"No." Bulma replied thankfully. "Bra and Vegeta are identical in temperament. An outsider's perspective doesn't matter to either of them."

Bra shot through the clouds with her father in hot pursuit.

"Stop this instant!" Vegeta bellowed for about the fiftieth time. Bra ignored him completely.

Vegeta finally snapped and overtook her in the air. He grabbed her roughly around the waist and pulled her to the ground with him. Bra struggled and yelled protests all the way. They broke apart and stood in a face-off in a deserted section of a city park.

"Damn it! Leave me the hell alone, Dad! I don't want to talk to you!"

"I don't care!" Vegeta yelled losing what little hold he had on his temper and flew into a full blown fit of rage. "What do you think you're doing? I told you not to leave the house!"

"I'm tired of your new rules! This is stupid!" Bra began to falter. Desperately she tried to choke her sobs. "Everything's different now! We're not the same around each other anymore!"

Vegeta grabbed her by the shirt and brought her parallel to his face.

"Listen! You're not going to like what I have to say and I don't care! Lives change unexpectedly all the time, as yours just did. You have to deal with that! I don't want our relationship to be ruined but If you're killed It definitely will be." He sighed and dropped her back to her feet. "But when we overcome this obstacle, I still want our relationship to be safe." He paused allowing what he'd just said to sink in. Bra stared at him unbelievingly. "So, I've decided to establish a synthesis of training. _I'll_ ask Mother to help us."

Bra's sobs of anger and sorrow suddenly transformed to sobs of joy. She threw her arms around his neck. 

"Thank you, Daddy!"

Vegeta grumbled as his daughter hung from his neck and sobbed into his chest. All this hugging was starting to grate on his nerves.


	10. The Message

The Princess

Chapter 10: The Message

By: senzubean

I do not own Dragon Ball Z in any way. I make no profit from this story. I just wrote it for fun.

Bra and Vegeta were descending upon their backyard just as Sala, Letta and Recely were coming out of the house.

Bra ran towards them as soon as she hit the ground.

"Bra, go to your room." Vegeta ordered, halting the exited girl in her tracks. Bra's face fell in disappointment, then she remembered her father stressing the fact that he would ask her grandmother for the training assistance. 

"Kay!" She chirped happily and hurried into the house.

Vegeta rolled his eyes.

"So, I guess things worked out between you two." Recely said smiling.

"Yeah, for now." Vegeta grumbled. "I need to talk to you."

Sala grunted loudly in objection to that. She glared at him and planted her hands on her hips impatiently.

"Were you going somewhere?" Vegeta asked.

"Yes, to our ship." Recely answered.

"Why?" Vegeta exclaimed. He blushed , embarrassed at his outburst. He continued in a more hushed voice to his Mother. "Look, I know I've been acting distant but don't leave!"

"Oh don't worry, Dearest. We're going to come back. We just need to check in with our commander and the rest of the family. Plus the ship will be safer if we parked it here instead of in the desert."

Vegeta exhaled a little more deeply than usual, relieved that he hadn't offended her.

"I'll come with you. We can talk on the way since Sala is so opposed to us doing it now." Vegeta said side-glaring at Sala, who glared right back.

"I'd love that." Recely smiled.

"Can I come too!" Bra yelled from the doorway.

"No! Did you think I wouldn't punish your disobedience? Go to your room!" Vegeta snapped.

Bulma pushed past Bra in the doorway. 

"You're all leaving?" She asked

"We'll be back shortly." Vegeta replied.

"How much time would it take for one of those assassins to break in here and kill Bra and I?" Bulma glared at Vegeta and folded her arms.

Vegeta hadn't thought of that.

"Let's go brat!" Vegeta ordered his daughter.

Bra giggled then whispered. "Thanks Mom!"

Bulma winked at her with a smile. Vegeta glared at both of them.

"I want to tell them!"

"Too bad, I 'm telling them!"

Vegeta, Recely and Bra entered the ship to find Letta and Sala fighting over the commanders seat and the control panel. Bra gaped at the machinery and ran to inspect the impressive vessel.

"That's not fair, it's my ship!" Letta replied.

"It's _our_ ship!" Corrected Sala.

"I'm older than you. Now do as you're told and get away from the control panel!" Letta ordered, planting her fists on her hips.

"Make me get away from it! Ha! You're not strong enough and that settles it!"

Letta scrunched up her face and folded her arms across her chest.

"Recely..."

"Knock it off the both of you. Honestly, you're acting like a couple of toddlers." Recely scolded.

Sala settled into the chair and then stuck her tongue out at Letta. Letta backhanded her across the face.

"That didn't hurt!" Sala sing songed. "But I aughta break your arm for daring to do that."

Recely groaned quietly, then faked a smile. "Letta, go change the fuel canisters, you're the only one who can do it properly."

"Yeah, that's right. I can properly use all of the equipment on this ship, not just the communication devices." Letta said bitterly to Sala.

Sala opened her mouth to yell something back. 

"Letta, just go do it, please." Recely interrupted.

Letta finally left, muttering under her breath about wanting to see Sala change the canisters and all the things that would go wrong if she did.

"They always act like that." Recely explained to Vegeta. 

Bra ran back into the helm from wherever she had been. "This ship is great!" She exclaimed. "It's a lot nicer than any of Mom's ships! Don't you think its nicer than any of Mom's, Dad?"

"Yeah, but I don't think we should go telling her that." Vegeta replied. Bra giggled and went to look over Sala's shoulder as she used the communicators. 

"Hey, we got a message from home." Sala announced.

Recely walked over to her and crossed her arms over her chest sternly. "Yes, it's probably Tuce, _again_. You had us all worried sick about you."

Sala laughed.

"It is not funny, Sala! You still had your scouter. You could have informed us that you were all right." Recely continued to scold.

"I already said I was sorry, geeze! Besides, you know how anal Tuce is. He worries about everything. I'm almost tempted to let Letta call him. I still have no idea why I chose him as my mate."

"Y..you two are mates." Vegeta asked.

"Yeah, I guess I forgot to mention that." Sala laughed.

Vegeta burst out laughing. "You and Tuce...." He said then continued to laugh. Bra looked over her shoulder at him completely perplexed. She'd never seen him that amused in her entire life.

"What's so funny? It's better than being your mate! Betrothed my ass!"

"Sala, why don't you check that message so that we can reply?" Recely suggested, getting anxious.

"Right." Sala said and started typing. A view screen appeared above the control panel.

Sala put her arms behind her head. "This should be good." She said with a wry smile.

The smile faded when the message began.

A young man appeared before them and he quickly began to speak in Saiyan. His voice was urgent and his eyes were frightened. He was gone as quickly as he appeared, the message was barely fifteen seconds long.

Everyone was silent. Bra looked at the adults, they were all staring at the now blank view screen. Without understanding a word the boy said, she understood that something terrible had happened. 

Suddenly Sala lurched forward out of her seat and pressed buttons frantically. The ship trembled beneath them and started to rise.

Letta screamed from the bowels of the ship and flew to the helm.

"What are you doing? I didn't finish changing all the canisters!"

"Is there enough fuel to get us back home ?" Recely demanded shaking off her shock.

Letta blinked in confusion. "Yeah, but why?"

"We just got a message from Potay. Polkrif sent some of his men to our home."

"We just got this message today?" Letta asked dumbfounded. Recely nodded. Letta's face fell into devastation. "But there'd be about a weeks delay on that message this far away from Yuisgro."

Sala moaned mournfully. Then pressed more buttons. The ship lurched forwards throwing everyone who was standing to the floor.

Letta ran to another chair and put on a headset. "I'll contact Command Central. They'll send some soldiers to...."

"To do what? We're the only ones who can contend with Polkrif's men! You'll just be sending another handful of people to be slaughtered if you do that!" Sala disagreed, tears streaming down her face. "Just do me a favor and scan our flight path for enemy ships." 

"Right." Letta said and started to do just that.

"Letta, is there any way you can send a message to Bulma and Trunks. We should tell them where we've gone and to warn them to be on alert." Recely said. "I don't think Polkrif will attack them if he knows that Bra is with us but he is very unpredictable." 

"Should we risk communicating from space to Earth. How can we be certain that Polkrif knows where we are and that Bra is with us?" Letta asked.

"How could he have known what planet we called home?" Recely replied grimly.

Letta gaped at her, terrified at the fact that Polkrif knew everything about them. She struggled to shake it off and think. "A message to Earth will be tricky. There's no guarantee that Trunks or Bulma would get it since they don't have a receiver."

"There's one in my training capsule." Vegeta replied.

"Yeah, but how often does Mom or Trunks go in there without you in it?" Bra pointed out. " Here's an idea. Trunks' cell phone is on a satellite transmitter. Couldn't we just try to find the satellite it uses and send a message directly?" 

"Smart thinking, Bra." Letta said. "I'll get right on that."

Sala slumped over the control panel with her head on her arms. Recely motioned for Vegeta and Bra to follow her into the kitchen and dining area. As soon as the door shut behind them, Recely collapsed onto a chair.

"Potay is Sala and Tuce's son, isn't he?" Vegeta asked.

"Yes. He's Bra's age. He's a fairly decent fighter but I doubt that he'd have a chance against even Polkrif's weakest warriors. His father might, but I'm not sure."

"I suppose Argo has limitations due to old age." Vegeta added. 

"He's nearly blind." Recely replied. "But he'd definitely try if it came down to protecting Potay." 

"What about Zorn? You haven't mentioned him."

Recely didn't answer him and just stared at him, her eyes filled with intense sadness.

"Zorn was...he died. A long time ago." She said in a soft, broken voice.

"How?" Vegeta asked gently. Zorn had been one of his only friends as a child. The truth was, he'd rather talk to him than to his father and he never forgot that. 

Recely looked up at him, her mournful expression changing to one of subdued panic. Her eyes and mouth trembled. She pushed herself up violently, breaking contact with him and walked across the room. Vegeta stared after her, wondering why she was behaving this way. He just wanted to know how Zorn met his death, and who was responsible for it, because Zorn surely died in battle like the true elite warrior he was.

"I must figure out which warriors Polkrif sent to our home." Recely said absentmindedly, completely dismissing Vegeta's question. "If we can figure that out, then we would know how much of a chance Tuce had against them."

"It will do us no good to antagonize over that, Mother. There's no way to determine how many were sent. You know that. We can only prepare ourselves for battle. How long till we get there?" Vegeta said.

"At this speed, about three days. We can only pray that we don't run into any confrontation on the way." Recely returned to the table and rested her head in her hands.

Vegeta and Bra sat down with Recely and they were all silent.

"I'm sorry , Mother." Vegeta eventually said.

Recely looked up at him. "For what, Dearest."

"I'm sorry that everything always turns out wrong for you. None of you deserve this, not after all the good you've done."

Recely managed a very weak smile. "The universe works in mysterious ways. Something good just might come out of all this yet. We can only try to get through the hard times and see."


	11. Anguish

The Princess

Chapter 11: Anguish

By: senzubean

I do not own Dragon Ball Z in any way. I make no profit from this story. I just wrote it for fun.

Bra had never been to another planet before. She had always wanted to see an alien planet first hand. Trunks had sparked her interest with the stories he told her of his travels with Goku and Pan a few years before. Now she had gotten her chance, but she was in no mood to appreciate the scenery. 

All four saiyans stared at the same thing. The house was small and seemed to be drowned in an endless blanket of turquoise fields set against a gray backdrop of sky. It was quiet, peaceful. It would have made a nice painting if only the circumstances surrounding this image weren't so bleak. The silence was not a welcomed one to the saiyans who took in the scene. It was like a mournful beacon death.

"There doesn't seem to be any damage." Vegeta observed. 

"Polkrif's thugs aren't like Frieza's thugs!" Sala spat. "They're a more intelligent breed of scum. They don't get their thrills by destroying everything in sight, just what's important." Sala wrapped her arms around herself and swallowed painfully, battling the sobs that were fast brewing in her throat.

"Stay here," He said to everyone. "I'll inspect the place." Vegeta announced and flew off to the saiyan homestead. 

Letta comforted Sala, and Recely stared after her son. She stood strong, stone faced as if she were used to receiving bad news. Bra felt out of place again and let her attention wander around the landscape. It was barren save for a few trees and a forest was barely visible, almost completely hidden by a hill. There was a fence far off in the distance bordered by small shrubs. She stared at the strange plants intensely, positive that she had seen something moving around behind the barrier.

Inside the house, the sight was surprising. Surprising but somehow encouraging. There was no mess, no sign of a struggle and very little sign of a search. All the doors were flung open, including those of every cupboard. Large furniture such as sofas and beds were overturned so as to verify that no saiyan was hiding underneath. As if a saiyan would hide at all, let alone in such an obvious place. Other than those indications, nothing was awry, nothing was broken. No blood or body parts littered the clean floor.

"Weird." Vegeta stated absentmindedly.

Bra was examining the bushes so intensely that she didn't realize her father had returned until he heard him say:

"There's no sign of a battle or struggle. Only indication of a half-assed search."

Recely was obviously puzzled. "That makes no sense, even for Polkrif's men."

Vegeta shrugged slightly having no ideas as to why that was so.

"Look!" Bra exclaimed and pointed over to the far off fence, positive that she had seen a creature of some sort. "Something's moving around over there."

Vegeta shot off into the air in the direction after whatever it was. He captured it easily and almost immediately returned.

"I don't think we need to worry about this." Vegeta stated and held up a small fuzzy creature by the collar of its shirt. 

"Don't hurt me Don't hurt me Don't hurt me……" the little creature babbled with it's eyes shut tight and its body curled up into a little ball. 

"Lousha!" Recely Sala and Letta exclaimed.

"Lousha?" Vegeta demanded having never heard of such a creature.

"That's her name. Quick, give her to me." Recely ordered. Vegeta released her into Recely's outstretched arms.

"Lousha?" Recely gently prompted. Fuzzy little Lousha cracked one eyeball and then beamed joyfully when she recognized who was holding her. "Auntie Leguma!" The girl's expressions were practically hidden by her dark brown fur covered face. The only indication that she was smiling was her white teeth. That smile soon faded into a frown.

"Bad men came looking fer ya!"

"Yes. Did they find Argo, Potay and Tuce?" Recely asked.

Lousha shook her head no. "Grampa Saiya and Potay hid at my house. Come on I'll show you!" The fuzzy little thing hopped out of Recely's arms and scurried off towards the fence. She stopped briefly to examine Bra and smiled with glee. She stole a look back at Vegeta, shuddered, then hurried off.

"Making good impressions as always." Sala commented at Vegeta. Feeling better now that she had hope.

It seemed to the group that they had been walking a great deal longer than they actually had. Soon a larger farmstead came into view, this one with pastures of grazing animals on all sides. As they neared the house, two larger creatures of Lousha's species noticed them.

"Mom!" The largest, and by the sounds of his voice a young male, yelled towards the house. "The Saiyans are back!"

A sturdy woman wearing a blood splattered apron and carrying a large cleaver came quickly from the barn and went to meet the group.

"Thank heavens!" She sighed with relief, discarding her butchering tool on the ground.

"Mamma, I found our Saiyans!" Lousha exclaimed proudly. But her mother wasn't impressed.

"What did I tell you?"

Lousha's face fell into a scowl. "Not to go near our Saiyan's house 'case the bad men are over there." She grumbled but didn't say she was sorry. Lousha's mother stared hard at her little daughter for a second then returned her attention to our guests. "Argo is inside. Potay was here this morning."

Sala's eyes widened. "Where's Tuce, Merifly?"

Merifly shook her head sadly. "He left about a week ago in order to lead some of the enemy away. Potay and Argo were able to hide in our storm shelter from those who were searching. After three days, Tuce didn't return and Potay went after him. Potay returned last night but he hasn't spoken to anyone since. So, I'm guessing that Tuce won't be coming back. But you'll have to ask Potay for sure."

"Where is he!?" Sala demanded frantically. Disturbed at her child's behavior and the disappearance of her mate. 

"We don't know. I asked him to stay inside since up until the day before yesterday those creeps were still wandering' around. But like all teenagers he ignored me. I sent my boys to look for him a little while ago but the property's big you know. He may have left again."

Recely turned to Sala. "You and Letta go look for him, Vegeta and I will see your father."

Lousha grabbed Bra's hand. "Bra comes with Lousha." She sang and started pulling on Bra's arm.

Vegeta was about to protest that, not wanting Bra wandering around with Polkrif's men about. Merifly was obviously thinking the same thing and intervened before he could.

"You stay where I can see you, little lady!" Merifly warned.

"Yea yea." Lousha mumbled and bounced down the hill with Bra in tow.

The house was warm and inviting despite the chilly and gray atmosphere outside. Merifly led Recely and Vegeta through several large rooms to the study. 

"He's been sitting in there since this whole mess started. I'm worried about him. Old folks can't take such strains on their heart." 

"He's strong." Recely assured her.

Merifly smiled. "I'm going to go slaughter a few more grazers. You'll all stay for dinner." It wasn't a request but an order.

"Thank you." Recely said solemnly. "For everything you've done for us."

"Well what are friends for? Besides, you've _done_ much more for us."

Recely opened the door and she and her son stepped in.

Argo was seated in an armchair that was turned nearly completely away from the door. His gaunt arms and silver hair could be made out clearly by means of the sunlight filtering through the window opposite him. The sight was shocking to Vegeta. He had never seen an old saiyan before since most saiyans died in battles. An old saiyan was a rare sight on Planet Vegeta. 

"Is that my Queen?" Argo stated softly. He turned his head to look at them.

"Yes." Recely replied and went hurriedly to him. "How are you?" She took his hand in hers and knelt beside him.

"I've been better. Been worse too. Who's this with you?"

"Vegeta." Recely stated with a sincere smile.

Argo chuckled faintly. "That's a good one, especially from you my serious saiyan beauty."

Recely chuckled faintly, "It's not a joke." She beckoned Vegeta to come closer. 

Argo gasped as soon as his old eyes made out Vegeta's features. He stared for a few minutes. Then a smile passed over his wrinkled face. "It's been ages..since I've seen that scowl." then he sighed sadly. "Just when I thought I couldn't get more depressed. What an awful thing that we missed you." 

"Oh he's done all right for himself." Recely reassured him. "He made himself a new family. You can meet his daughter, she came back with us." Recely smiled.

"A princess?" Argo asked concerned. "Does Polkrif know?"

Recely hummed. "That's how we found them. And that's what's kept us occupied. But what happened _here_ Argo?"

Argo shrugged. "Polkrif's men finally found us. The strange thing is that Polkrif must've known that only we'd be here."

Recely's eyes furrowed. "How did he find out about you!" She erupted and began to pace the room.

"Does it really matter now, Recely darling?" Argo asked calmly. "He knows. Somehow he has the means to track your activities. He knew exactly who would be here. The men he sent were nothing more than foot soldiers armed with energy blasters. They were not proper warriors. But there were a lot of them. Tuce managed to lead most of them off and..." Argo lowered his eyes. "I guess they were too much for him. That's the hardest thing of all to understand. How could that strong young man succumb to mere lackeys with blasters? Something else must have happened. And I have a feeling that Potay knows what."

"Did he say anything to you?" Recely asked.

Argo shook his head no. "He asked me if I was all right when he returned yesterday. I was just about to scold him for running off after his father but he left before I could. I was the only person he spoke to." There was a long pause. "Where's Sala? Is she all right?" Argo asked concerned.

"She's outside looking for Potay." Recely replied. "I don't know if she's all right or not."

Argo sat there staring at her for a few moments. His face expressed concern. Finally he spoke again.

"Recely, I think you should talk to Potay first." He suggested.

"Why? I'm sure he'd rather talk to his mother."

"I'm positive that he'd rather not." Argo stated forcefully. He needn't say another word, both Recely and Vegeta could tell by the look on his face that Sala must not be the person to find Potay first. Recely did not understand why, but Vegeta did.

"This way!" Lousha exclaimed and pushed on Bra's legs. 

"Lousha, your Mom said to stay by the house, we're already out of sight."

"Mama doesn't know nuthin'!" Lousha shouted and pushed harder. 

"Parents always know what's best for their children." Bra said. Realizing that she didn't exactly believe it herself .

"No they don't." Lousha stubbornly replied. Shaking her head from side to side. "Mammas and Papas are nuthin' but big kids!"

Bra sighed wondering how she was going to compete with this assertive little girl.

"But they know a lot more because they've lived longer." Bra said and quickly crouched down in the grass as to prevent Lousha from pushing her farther down the hill.

Lousha pushed on Bra's back. "Up now! I know where Potay's hiding'"

"This is dangerous!" Bra stated and scooped the stubborn child off the ground and started to walk back towards the house.

"No! It's a secret place and only I know where it's at!"

"We'll tell Sala where she has to go.."

"NO!" Lousha yelled at the top of her little lungs. " IT'S MINE AND POTAY'S SECRET! I PROMISED POTAY NOT TO TELL HIS MAMMA OR ANYBODY ELSE!"

Lousha's lip quivered. "I thought you were my friend. I thought you could be my sister. But I was wrong!" Lousha scowled and crossed her arms and looked kind of like a fuzzy little Vegeta. Bra could barely stifle her laughter.

"No, I'm your friend, Lousha." Bra stated, her heart melting a little. Lousha said that she had two older brothers, both who were much older than her. Bra knew what that was like, there were countless times she wished she had a little sister to play with.

"Bra will be my saiyan sister?" Lousha asked hopefully.

"Yeah, I'll be your saiyan sister." Bra replied. Lousha squealed and hugged Bra tight.

"Ok, I'll show you my secret now. You won't tell Potay's Mamma or your scary Papa will you?"

"No, Lousha." Bra humored her but was still nervous about straying too far from all the powerful adults.

"Ok." Lousha said and jumped to the ground. "Come on."

"We have to be quick Ok." 

Lousha didn't reply, instead she started to run towards the forest. She was quick for a kid with such short legs.

"Wait!" Bra exclaimed and went after her.

"This way, this way!" Lousha exclaimed as they broke into the forest. She led Bra around massive trees, over fallen trunks and over a small stream. They inched deeper and deeper into the wooden maze. Bra was about to stop Lousha and head back, hoping that they weren't completely lost already, but suddenly a large clearing appeared and Lousha finally slowed down. She toddled over to an embankment and looked far down into a small valley.

"There it is. Potay and Lousha's secret spot!" Lousha exclaimed proudly and pointed at a cave carved into the steepest bank in the valley. That said she slid down the bank to the ground below. Bra watched her advance on the cave from on high. She sighed, and slid down, pausing to brush dirt off herself at the bottom then casually followed.

Lousha was waiting at the entrance. She had a finger pressed to her fuzzy lips. 

"Shhhh, we'll surprise Potay now." Then she crept inside on her tip toes. Bra followed quietly, not taking the extra precautions of her little friend. She heard water dripping steadily as they advanced. Finally the dark cave became lighter and it grew bigger. They found themselves in a circular room of sorts, with an open skylight and sheltered hollows in the walls. A small waterfall poured into a small pool at the back and drained off into a hole in the side of the cliff. Potay lay next to this pool on a sun-bathed slab of rock. 

He was full of dirt. It was all over his clothes and in his short spiky hair. Only his face was clean. He stared at his reflection and took no notice of the newcomers.

"Potay!" Lousha exclaimed, surprising the young saiyan, and ran up with her arms outstretched.

"Lousha!" He said in a scolding voice and was about to continue his reprimand when he caught a glimpse of Bra. He grabbed Lousha violently and threw her on the rock and stood in front of her protectively. Lousha cried out in fear and shock at Potay's actions, then promptly started to cry.

He stood there silently, looking Bra up and down trying to make sense of her. His ki gradually rose. 

Bra realized that the situation was about to get out of hand if she didn't say something.

"Listen Potay…."

Potay yelled at the top of his lungs in reaction to his name and lunged at her. Bra shot up through the skylight into the empty section of air. Potay was right on her tail and wasted no time in pulling out the big guns. He started to fire energy balls up at her. Bra batted them away.

"Potay, listen to me! I'm a friend!" 

Potay did not listen and was on her in three seconds. She blocked his blows with a moderate degree of effort. She had always wondered what it would be like to fight an angry saiyan, one that would fight her without holding back for fear of harming her. Now she knew but Potay wasn't just angry he was crazed. She somehow felt that he wasn't really fighting her but someone else that only he saw.

Bra knew that she could not fight Potay. She did not want to hurt him, he had been hurt enough. But the confrontation was getting dangerous and Bra did not know how she was going to calm her opponent down enough to at least try and reason with him. Just then, Lousha ran out of the cave, screaming and crying , begging them to stop their fighting. Bra saw her opportunity and hoped that it would not go awry. She shot down and got a hold of the distressed child. This angered Potay even more and he landed four feet away from them, snarling. 

"LET HER GO!"

"You have to listen to me…" Bra tried to reason.

"LET HER GO NOW!" Potay advanced a little.

"I'm not going to hurt her. I'm a friend."

"IT'S TRUE POTAY! BRA'S MY FRIEND!" Lousha screamed and hugged Bra's neck. Potay finally realized that Lousha was not at all distressed that Bra had gotten hold of her. He relaxed a little but kept his ki ready.

"Who are you?" Potay demanded.

"This is Bra!" Lousha answered before Bra could. "She came with Auntie Leguma and Potay's Momma and Auntie Colli."

Bra was confused by the explanation, not recognizing the names Lousha had used, but Potay seemed to be somewhat satisfied.

"So, they're finally back." He said disgustedly. He clenched his fists and swallowed hard as if trying to battle down up-surging emotions. Then he glared at Bra. 

"What are you to them?"

Bra was perplexed by Potay's behavior. Sure things were bad, but shouldn't he at least be happy to have his Mother back with him?

"Well I'm…" Bra started.

"Potay!" Sala yelled as she appeared high above their heads in the clearing in the sky. As she started to descend, Potay flew up. But instead of meeting his Mother he shot right past her.

"Leave me alone!" He yelled at her. 

Sala blinked, devastated by her son's actions. Tears welled up in her eyes. The thought of what had caused him to act like this made her heart break. "POTAY!" She screamed and shot after him.

Recely, Vegeta, Argo and Merifly were exiting the house just as Bra descended in the yard, holding an upset Lousha.

"What's wrong?" Merifly exclaimed and ran up to her. "Lousha never cries!" She added in a concerned tone.

"Mama, Potay's actin' weird." Lousha replied.

Merifly's face fell. "He's upset, that's all." She tried her best to reassure everyone.

Lousha shook her little head. "No, he's not the same."

Bra went up to her father and grandmother. "He took off when he saw Sala. He told her to leave him alone."

"Sala went after him, didn't she?" Recely asked.

Bra nodded.

"Come Vegeta." Recely said and the two flew off without another word. Bra figured she should stay put. She stared off after them, hoping that everything would turn out all right. She felt so bad for poor Sala. And Potay.. she had barely met him and already she cared about his well being. She cared about them all. 

Her thoughts were interrupted by a soft chuckling. She turned to face the old saiyan standing beside her and met his black eyes and smiling face.

"Oh, I'm sorry. You must be Sala's dad. I'm Bra, Vegeta's daughter." She offered to shake his hand.

Argo took it gently and pressed it to his lips. Bra was completely taken aback by the gesture. This was a saiyan after all. She never expected a saiyan to be chivalrous.

Argo smiled down at her. 

"You sure are weird lookin' for a Saiyan Princess."


	12. Loss

The Princess

Chapter 12: Loss

By: senzubean

I do not own Dragon Ball Z in any way. I make no profit from this story. I just wrote it for fun.

"Damn it! Go away!" Potay yelled at his mother as he tried to get away from her. Sala wouldn't leave him be. She followed him wherever he went.

"Potay, honey. Please talk to me!" Sala begged. Tears flew off her face and into the wind.

"No! I have nothing I want to say to you!" Potay screamed, his voice cracking with emotion. He swallowed hard and sped up with renewed determination.

Sala had enough of this. She had tried reasoning with him, now it was time to try something else. She shot after him with tremendous speed, easily overtaking him. She grabbed him around the waist and pulled him to the ground. Potay struggled to free himself to no avail. Sala continued to hold him when they landed.

"Tell me what you saw! Please, Potay! Let me help you!" Sala pleaded. 

Potay broke away viscously. He tried to catch his breath, his mother had caused him to hyperventilate in rage.

"It's too late to help me now, Mom. You can't fix what you did!"

"W..what _I_ did?" Sala asked, not understanding what he was getting at. 

Potay stood up firmly and glared at her. "Yes what _you_ did! You were never here for us. Never!"

Sala looked at him sternly. "Potay, you know my job is important."

"Yeah, more important than Dad and Grampa and I." Potay said disgustedly.

"That's not true!"

"Yes it is! You know it! Why are you making me insist? Why, Mom?!" Potay huffed and turned away from her. "I can't believe I still care about your feelings."

"Potay…" Sala reached out towards him.

She stopped as she heard Recely and Vegeta land in the field.

"Sala, you're both very upset. Let me talk to him." Recely said as she advanced.

"No!" Potay exclaimed. "I don't want to talk to any of you people! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Potay tried to walk off.

"You know we won't do that." Recely replied sternly, halting him. He slowly turned to face her.

"And why is that? Don't tell me you care about me, Recely. What's some saiyan brat to the Queen of all Saiyans, after all? Its not as if I'm your long lost prince."

"Who told you that?" Sala demanded.

"Grampa." Potay replied. "He told me everything. How you escaped our planet, changed your names to conceal your connection to the saiyan royalty and how the planet was destroyed. How you all chased after the prince for years. How that Polkrif guy is after you, Mom, because of some idiotic prophecy. So why are you all fighting other people's battles? I don't think there is a way to atone for the misdeeds of an entire race of people, so why are you even trying?"

"Were not trying to atone for anything. We can't ignore a threat on the well being of the universe." Recely calmly explained.

"Hmph! I don't see anyone else helping! And I don't care about the rest of the universe. The only thing that I care about is that my father is dead!"

Sala stared at him shocked. "Dead?"

Potay turned to her. "You asked me what I saw Mother. Well, that's what I saw. I saw my father, _your_ _mate_, slaughtered. That's what I saw." He clenched his fists and swallowed hard. "I watched that monster tear him apart!" He said in a faltering voice.

"What did this monster look like?" Recely continued cautiously.

"Oh no! She's mine! MINE!" Potay yelled and then ran off.

Recely went to stop him from going, but Vegeta kept her back.

"Leave him for now." He said then motioned towards Sala who fell to her knees that instant. Recely ran over and embraced her and let her weep into her chest. 

Vegeta looked on for a few moments, feeling regret for Sala. Vegeta rarely felt that emotion for anyone, but Sala was his friend and Tuce had been his friend as well. He then began to walk casually in the direction Potay had run. 

It didn't take too long for Vegeta to catch up to him. He'd learned Potay's ki signature easily enough. The boy was sitting cross legged on the branch of a massive tree. It stood alone in the endless stretch of fields far from the distant forest. Vegeta walked right up to the base and stared up at Potay, who appeared to take no notice of him. He studied the young man for a minute or so. He felt his facial features slightly familiar, an echo of his father. He was sturdy, undoubtedly a strong fighter and he was as headstrong and stubborn as his Mother, despite the fact that she, apparently, had never been around to influence his behavior.

"I thought this place was so obvious no one would think to look here." Potay spoke first.

"Hmph." Vegeta grunted. "I don't think like the majority."

Potay glared down at him. "And just who are you?"

"Your Prince." Vegeta answered.

Potay was unmoved. He just continued to glare down at him.

"You should talk to your Mother. It's what's best for both of you."

"I'm not talking to her."

"Why not?"

"Because."

"That is _not_ an answer!"

"I hate her." Potay said simply, adding a shrug for good measure.

Vegeta stared at him. "Hate is a powerful word, boy. You should never use it to refer to your mother!"

"Why shouldn't I? That's what I feel towards her." Potay huffed in exasperation. "I don't see how this is any of your business anyway!"

"Your mother is my friend! That makes it my business!"

"Well you're nothing to me! I refuse to talk to you anymore. Go away!"

"Get down here!" Vegeta snarled in rage and drop-kicked the tree. It's massive trunk snapped. It creaked as it began to topple, then fell swiftly, rocking the earth for miles as it hit the dirt.

Potay stared amazed from where he crouched in the dirt a few feet away from Vegeta. 

"Y..you wrecked it." He stammered. "You wrecked it!" He stood up and confronted Vegeta meeting him eye to eye. "That was the tree of life! It was the oldest thing on this entire planet and you…you wrecked it!"

Vegeta crossed his arms over his chest. "Hmph! Nothing lasts forever child. Things happen that are beyond your control. You have to learn how to deal with that. Perhaps I was the cause of that trees death but your mother was not the cause of your father's. Go talk to her. It's harder to learn to deal with tragedy on your own, take my word for it!"

Potay's eyes furrowed. "You wasted your energy and that trees life to try and make me see that point. My mother is completely at fault for my father's death. She was never here for us! Not once! She'd come home maybe twice a year for a few days! That was it! You don't understand. Grampa told me that Polkrif wanted her dead and he came after us to get at her!"

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "You teenagers are all alike. Stubborn as hell! Your mother was as surprised as any of us to find out that Polkrif located your home. She stayed away in order to protect you!" then he added grumbling. "Not the most effective way to protect your children."

Potay continued to glare. Vegeta did the same, having to admit the kid was brave. Obviously, he had proven himself to be a powerful saiyan by his little tree knocking display, but Potay showed no indication of backing down. It was impressive, but also a problem. 

Vegeta sighed, knowing he had to resort to a different form of persuasion than he was used to. "Look." He said as solemnly as he could. "Just think about what I said, all right? Don't allow your mother to lose both of her loved ones."

With that he turned and started to leave. 

"Who's that girl that came with you?" Potay asked. 

Vegeta turned back. "My daughter."

Potay didn't reply, he just walked back to the fallen tree and sat down with his back resting against the trunk. Vegeta watched him for a few minutes then went on his way.

Sala sat staring out of Merifly's kitchen window at her son. He walked slowly up the hill, silhouetted against the setting sun. Lousha and Bra were playing in the yard. The fuzzy little child ran and latched onto his legs and her brothers were soon upon him as well. Sala remained where she was, haven given up on trying to talk to him. Vegeta noticed this and went over to her, laying his hand on her shoulder. Sala looked up at him, her eyes red and mournful.

"He'll come around."

Sala sighed and lay her head upon her folded arms and resumed her vigil. 

Potay quickly broke off what small conversation he had been enticed into. He physically removed Lousha from his legs and appeared to be headed around the back of the house. Meanwhile, Bra had become uncomfortable standing off to one side and was headed back towards the front door. Potay did a U-turn and stalked right after Bra.

This did not escape Vegeta.

"Hey!" Potay yelled to Bra gaining her attention. 

"Oh hi." Bra said somewhat nervously.

"Look, I'm sorry that I went psycho on you before."

"That's all right." Bra stated meekly, not really knowing what to say to him.

There was a long silence. Bra became more and more uncomfortable with every second.

"You're _his_ daughter, are you?" Potay asked.

"Yeah." Bra replied, a little annoyed that Potay didn't use her father's name.

"You don't look like a saiyan."

"How observant." Bra replied dryly. She didn't understand what Potay was getting at. 

"What was your name, again?" Potay demanded.

"Bra."

Potay mouthed it under his breath, took one last look at her, and then went along his way.

Bra stared after him rather bewildered. Her mind told her to shrug it off, that he was acting weird because of what he'd been through. But something told her that there was something else going on with him. 

"What was that about?"

Bra started and then confronted her father, who had arrived without her knowing.

"Nothing. He..he just apologized for attacking me, that's all."

Vegeta cocked an eyebrow, not quite believing her. 

"I was just going inside" Bra mumbled and walked past her father. 

She arrived in the kitchen and four pairs of eyes met her there. 

Bra scanned the room quickly, looking for some dark corner to hide in. She had no idea what to say or do. The situation was just so awkward. She wished she hadn't insisted on coming to her grandmother's ship then she wouldn't be there.

"Hey missy." Merifly said cheerfully from the stove "Ever gutted an animal before?"

Bra stared wide eyed at her. "N…no." 

Merifly took off her oven mitts and then took Bra by the arm, leading her back outside. 

"This is the perfect time for you to learn. I think we'll be needing' another grazer for dinner." 

The two passed Vegeta as he was coming back in. 

"B..but I'm a terrible cook!" Bra protested, but Merifly would have none of it and they were soon out in the barn. Vegeta couldn't help but chuckle.

"Perhaps someone should stay with them." Letta suggested It had been the first thing she'd said since they'd arrived.

Recely nodded. "That's a good idea."

"No it isn't." Vegeta replied.

Everyone looked at him as if to ask why.

"If Polkrif wanted to kill them, they'd be dead already." He explained.

Argo hummed in compliance. "Junior's right. Those men that came didn't even look for us over here. They must have noticed that there was more than one saiyan living in our house. There were photographs of us all with the locals on the tables and walls."

"We should all leave. The sooner the better. Before Polkrif finds out that he's got all of us saiyans gathered together in one spot, if that wasn't already his plan." Vegeta added.

Recely's eyes widened. "I never even thought of that! He has everyone he could possibly want right here on this farm! We should leave immediately."

"EEEW GROSS!" Bra screamed from outside, startling everyone. She ran across the yard and into the kitchen and all the way upstairs to look for a washroom. Merifly appeared seconds later with a confused look on her face. 

"Squeamish for a saiyan, isn't she?"

Vegeta chuckled at that. Argo soon joined, followed by Recely and Letta. They all needed a little laughter after everything that had happened that day. Sala didn't even crack a smile, in fact, she hadn't even realized what was going on, she just continued to stare out the window.


	13. Enough!

**The Princess**

**Chapter 13: Enough!**

**By: senzubean**

I do not own Dragon Ball Z in any way. I make no profit from this story. I just wrote it for fun.

Bra woke up with a start. A canopy of leaves hung far above her. The bright sun shone down through the cover, half blinding her. She shielded her eyes with her arm and sat up. Moisture from the ground penetrated her pajama bottoms. She clenched her hand and picked up a mass of saturated green leaves. 

"What the..?" She mumbled and let them fall from her delicate fingers.

Thunder rumbled, a deep, far off noise. Bra was on her feet. She didn't remember pushing herself up though. As she thought of this, she realized she was walking. 

_This is so weird! Bra thought although she had meant to say it aloud. _

_What's wrong with me? _

She decided to stop and take another look around. Her legs kept moving.

"What's going on?" Bra cried. Her mind was free to think, but her body didn't respond to her commands. "Where am I?" Bra said aloud really starting to get scared now. A huge clap of thunder startled her. She jumped and whirled around. Lightning flashed above her head. She collapsed to her knees in utter confusion. She had control again. 

Regaining her senses all at once, she realized that she was now on a path made of worn cobblestone. 

"This has to be a dream! It's too strange to be anything but!" She snapped frustrated. But she knew full well that stranger things had been happening lately.

Another clap of thunder jolted her to her feet. It was unlike any thunder she had ever heard before, it sounded almost like the roar of a large animal mixed with thunder. Before her heart could stop pounding the trees parted, making way for what seemed to be an endless army of ape faced soldiers and they were all charging directly towards her.

Bra ran as fast as she could. The cobblestones were slippery under her bare feet and she was tripping and falling all over the place.  The army was getting closer and closer, their war cries were deafening as they advanced and threatened to overtake her.

She kept running, somehow gaining firm footholds on the slippery path. Terrified, she continued her flight, right up to two giant stone pillars and an archway. She stopped, frozen in place and looked up at the engravings on the face. There she saw a symbol she recognized and several characters as well. Her father had shown them to her when she was very young. The middle one was the largest and was centered on the arch, overhanging the entrance to a dark cave. It was her family's insignia. The royal crest of Clan Vegeta and the characters were saiyan writing. It appeared ancient, like something she would find in her history book. She transferred her attention to the two pillars and realized that they were not separate structures but part of the same enormous sculpture carved out of the granite cliff, towering high into the trees and fog. The pillars were actually legs, the legs of an oozaru to be exact. Bra was at the feet of a massive stone oozaru.

Only then did she notice the silence. Now she couldn't hear anything but the wind. She felt as if she were being watched though and slowly turned around.

The terror returned, engulfing her entire being. The entire army of ape-men was waiting behind her, silent as mice. They all stood there staring past her at the statue.  Suddenly their faces contorted and they drew their weapons, their eyes all still fixed at the oozaru. Bra didn't understand, it was only a statue. Wearily, she started to turn away, frightened that as soon as she turned her back they would throw their weapons at her. She glanced up at the statue, trying to keep one eye on the army behind her.  She all but forgot about them soon enough. The statue was no longer a statue.  It was now a very much alive oozaru. A golden oozaru.

It was staring right at her, snarling which gradually morphed into an ear-shattering roar.  Bra decided to run, but again she could not. She was stuck in place. The beast roared again. Weapons flew from behind her. They bounced off the giant ape as if it were still stone. Shattered spears and arrows fell like rain to the ground.  The oozaru didn't seem to notice and kept staring at Bra.  It let out a third roar, this one the loudest yet and punctuated with thunder. Then it reached down with its massive hand intent on picking up what it had been staring at the whole time.

Bra's eyes snapped open and she caught herself in mid-scream. She lay there hyperventilating for a few minutes, stiff as a board and eyes fixed on the ceiling. Her familiar bedroom ceiling. 

Slowly, she caught her breath, certain now that it had been a dream. 

_But what did it mean?_

She thought about that for what seemed like an eternity.  Eventually she resigned to the fact that she would never find out and decided to dismiss it as just a stupid dream. It was probably the result of all that ice cream she ate before bed. Closing her eyes and exhaling slowly, she tried to go back to sleep. 

Then she rolled over on her side. Five minutes later she fluffed up her pillow. Then she wrapped the blankets around her tighter only to kick them off violently moments later. She jumped out of bed and started pacing her room.

"Just a stupid dream. Just a stupid dream. Just a stupid...argh! If it was so stupid I wouldn't have thought about it so long and I would've been able to get back to sleep!"  She growled in annoyance then grunted loudly. She needed all the sleep she could get since she was now training with both her father and grandmother.

"Maybe a glass of water will calm me down."

Bra guzzled down her water, then immediately filled it up again unsatisfied.  Her hands trembled as she did this. 

_What is wrong with me? I swear I saw the exact same scenario on the sci-fi channel a hundred times! Why the hell am I so rattled?_

She drank half the water, and then spilled the rest down the sink. 

"I'm wide awake." Bra mumbled as she shuffled back to her room.  In the living room, the wind ruffled the blinds covering the patio doors. 

Potay was lying outside with his arms under is head staring up at the stars.  Bra watched him in secrecy for a few moments.

_Poor Potay, he's having a really hard time dealing with the loss of his Dad. I don't know how I'd go about handling that. _

Bra shuddered, not even wanting to think about that. Potay hadn't been seen very much since they all got back from Yuisgro. He just stuck in the guestroom Bulma made up for him. He only came out for meals, and only because his mother ordered him to.  It dawned on Bra that maybe he needed someone to talk to. Someone who was his own age.  Someone he didn't know.

"Hi." Bra said as she stepped outside. "Mind if I join you?"

"It's your balcony." Potay simply replied.

Bra sat cross-legged a fair distance away from him.  She smiled at him. He returned a puzzled expression. Bra switched her attention to the floor, then to the star dotted sky. She had come out there to talk, but now she didn't know what to say.

"The sky looks a lot different here than Yuisgro. I've no idea what these constellations are." Potay said casually.

"I only know a couple." Bra replied. "There's the big dipper. It's the one that's shaped like a scoop."

"Impressive." Potay sarcastically replied.

Bra felt her eyebrows start to ark in annoyance. She shook it off.

"Look, I know you're going through a tough time. If you want someone to talk to, I'm always willing to listen. I promise I won't go telling the adults what you say to me."

Potay looked at her, then grunted.

"As if you would understand."

"Hey, I'm going through a tough time myself you know, it's hard trying to talk to the adults about it. I just thought..."

"You just thought that I'm not able to handle this myself. Everyone else thinks that." He paused, his glare intensified to the point of disgust.   "You know, they were all here protecting you as my father was being slaughtered." Potay replied quite nastily.  Bra opened her mouth to point out that they had no idea that was going to happen but Potay continued: "Maybe you need to hide behind your father and the rest but I'm going to defeat my enemy myself. Maybe I'll be able to forgive my mother after I avenge my father. I just can't now."

"Killing whoever murdered your father won't make you feel better." Bra replied gently.

Potay jumped up off the balcony floor and stared down hard at Bra. "You sound just like the adults. Of course it will make me feel better! Until that monster dies by my hands, I will not be satisfied!"

"You make it sound so simple." Bra snapped, deeply insulted by his comment about her hiding behind her father.  "If this 'monster' was so easy to defeat then why didn't you take care of it when you had the chance?"

"Because..."  Potay scowled. "You weren't there. You could never understand! Now, do me a favor from now on, 'Princess', mind your own business!"  With that he jumped off the balcony and disappeared in the backyard.

Bra stood up, breathing violently through flared nostrils.

"HMPH!" was all she could manage to say.

Bra stared at the bacon left on her plate, the only thing that remained of her breakfast.

"What's wrong, Bra? You love bacon." Bulma observed from across the table. 

 "I just don't have the um..Appetite for it I guess." Bra replied. _And probably wont for the rest of my life!_

"Hmph!" Vegeta grunted with a smirk. He was leaning against the counter, arms folded, as if he hadn't a care in the world. "How did you think meat gets from the animal to the table?"

"I always knew how it gets here! I just had no desire to see the process!" she thought about Merifly cutting into that Grazer back on Yuisgro and shuddered. "And now I can't stop thinking about it!" Bra folded her arms too and leaned back in her chair. "Now even my eating habits have changed! I guess I'm a vegetarian from now on."

Vegeta smirked at her. Then grew serious. 

"Go get ready if you're finished." He said then headed towards the training capsule.

Recely swallowed her last bit of breakfast then said, "You two can warm up, and I'll join you shortly." Vegeta grunted in compliance as he exited the house.

Bra groaned slightly and got up from the table, taking her plate with her.

Argo smiled wryly. "Don't you like fighting, Princess?" 

"Um, not really."  Bra stammered.

Argo smiled fondly. "Some of the best don't." He winked at Recely.

Bra smiled back at him. "I'll see you all later." she said and went to leave.

"What are you going to do today, Potay?" Argo asked. Bra stopped and waited, not knowing why. She was still totally angry with Potay.

Potay stopped poking his eggs with his fork and looked at his Grandfather. "I dunno." He mumbled almost incoherently. "Go back to my room I guess."

"Why don't you go train too?"

"Wha...?" Potay asked dumbfounded. Then glanced over at Bra, who scowled at him. Potay, accepting the challenge, scowled back. "I don't think so." He stated nastily.

Agro was taken aback at his grandson's tone.

"I think it will be good for you." Recely replied in a tone that dared him to argue with her. Potay unafraid, glared at her. Unexpectedly, he nodded in agreement. "I'll go get ready." He said and got up from the table. He brushed past Bra. "Do you have a problem with that, Princess?" He demanded nastily.

"Potay!" Sala scolded. The first thing she'd said all morning.

"Why would there be a problem?" Bra asked in an equally nasty tone.

Potay grunted and continued on his way.

Sala fumed and mumbled something about Potay being too much of a brat and a rude guest. 

Bulma watched her daughter glare icily after Potay. "Did something happen between you two?"

"No." Bra snapped back at her.

"I guess the 'attitude' is in the air then." Bulma replied unimpressed with Bra's answer.

"Sorry Mom." Bra said sincerely and left.

The kitchen was silent, each remaining person either confused, or angry, or both.

"Well, that's my cue to leave I guess." Trunks stretched and got up. "Have a good day everyone."

"Same to you, kid." Argo replied cheerfully.

"Doubtful, " Trunks said as he picked up his briefcase at the door and then placed his glasses on his face. "But thanks just the same."

Argo laughed and then rose. "I think I'll watch some television. Sala, you coming with me?"

Sala nodded mechanically.

"Do you mind if I steal her for a few minutes, Argo?" Recely interrupted.

Agro smiled. "Anytime."

Letta jumped up from the table unable to contain her excitement any longer. "Bulma, can you show me the data on Hoi Poi capsulization now?"

Bulma laughed. "Can I clean up first?"

"Sala and I will do that." Recely said.

"But you're guests." Bulma protested. 

"Nonsense," Recely replied and started to gather up dirty dishes. "I used to do this all the time before that bastard king decided to make me his queen." Recely replied somewhat bitterly.

"Oh, well ok then.." Bulma stammered, not wanting to go there. Letta grabbed her arm and pulled her out into the hall babbling scientific jargon all the way.

Sala got up and picked up more dishes mechanically. She walked over to the sink where Recely was washing and placed them on the counter. A glass tumbled off the top of the pile and smashed on the floor.

"Damn it!"  Sala cursed loudly, fell to her knees and started to gather up the pieces. Recely watched her concerned.

"Sala, I want you to tell me everything that's bothering you.  It's hard on your father and Potay to see you acting like this."

"Acting like what?" Sala asked weakly.

"Distant. Apathetic." Recely replied.

"Well isn't that how I've always acted?" Sala snapped. "I mean, that's what Potay thinks."

" He's just very upset right now. I know he didn't mean those things he said."

"No he's right.  I wasn't there for him growing up. He bonded with his father, now he's gone. I could have prevented that from happening if I had been there. That's why he hates me."

 "He doesn't hate you."

"Well if he doesn't hate me then he should. Heaven knows I hate myself."

"Sala…" 

"No! My son is right. I wasn't there for my family. Tell me Recely, if Vegeta had've been found sooner, you would've dropped this whole fighting for the universe act and spent the rest of your life with him! That's what you would have done, because he was the most important thing to you. But Potay and Tuce obviously weren't that important to me."

Recely looked at her compassionately. "That's not true and you know it. I would've never stopped the fight against the evil in this universe. Even if I had gotten back my son, because it was that evil that took him from me in the first place. That's why I would've kept on fighting. That's why I've fought and why you helped me all those years. Deep down you knew that you were protecting them form the evil that was after you. That evil that took away Vegeta was the same that took your mate, not you.   Potay is a smart boy, he understands all of this, and he's coming around.  We just have to have a little patience."  Recely said and walked towards her with her arms outstretched. 

Sala nodded and wiped her tears away, then hugged her second mother.

When Bra got to the gravity chamber, her father wasn't there.

"Humph." Bra grunted unimpressed, then started to do warm ups.  She stretched her muscles carefully, and then started on some pushups. She pushed herself vertically in the air, like her father usually did, and pushed her body up and down with one finger.

"Show off."

Bra yelped and fell on her head.  She sat up and rubbed her aching scalp, glaring at Potay who was laughing from the porthole in the middle of the ship.

"Why didn't you say something if you were here?" Bra spat angrily.

Potay's laughter ebbed into light chuckling as he pulled himself up onto the second level. 

Bra got up and planted her fists firmly on her hips, daring him to keep laughing. Potay grew serious and made piercing eye contact with her.  After a minute or two of hard staring he stated. "You're not a warrior."

"And I suppose you are." Bra quickly replied.

"I'm more of a warrior than you'll ever be. That's the funniest thing of all."

"I don't see what's funny."

Potay smiled. "I heard your father talking to my grandfather. Interesting power you have there. Any warrior would kill for that power, but not you."

Bra's eyebrows furrowed. "I'd give it to you if I could.  But it's a good thing I can't. You'd use it for the wrong reasons." Bra turned away, intent on going back to her warm-ups before she did something she knew she'd regret, although it would feel really good.

"Well, you're not using it at all.  But why should you, spoiled little Princess, when Daddy has all the power anyone could ever want?"

Bra stopped, gritting her teeth.  "Potay, are you trying to start a fight?"

"Why bother, there would be no honor in it."

"Yes, and tormenting me is so honorable."

"You're right, I'm totally in the wrong here. I suppose I'm still just a little bitter that my mother chose you over my father but I think that's reasonable, don't you?"

Bra faced him. "No, I don't. Sala didn't know there was a choice to be made! How many more times do I have to explain that?" she heaved a frustrated sigh. "You are really asking for it, Potay. I suggest you stop now."  Bra turned again, intent on ignoring him, when she was hit from behind. She fell to her knees. Bra looked over her shoulder at Potay, who lowered his arm from his ki attack.

Potay laughed. "What are you going to do, Bra? Go on, run to Daddy. "

Bra threw a power sphere at Potay. He barely dodged it, and then she came in punching and kicking.  Potay blocked most of them. 

"You wanted a fight so now you have it!" Bra yelled at him. 

Potay snickered at her as he started his attacks.  Bra was too quick and dodged all his blows. He was angry at being up-staged and threw a violent punch at her. She dodged this too and took the advantage of his imbalance to knee him in the stomach. As he was doubled over she hit him between the shoulders, sending him plowing to the floor. 

Almost instantly, Potay pushed himself onto his back and threw a dozen or so ki blasts up at her, half of which hit her. Bra returned with ki blasts, Potay effectively lurching out of the way as she threw them. When he was against the wall he shot up into the air at her. They locked in hand-to-hand combat again, both fighting out of pure rage and nothing else.  Each taking advantage of the other's sloppy, anger propelled attacks.

Inside the house, Bulma listened to the noise worried. She excused herself from Sala and headed into the living room. She met Vegeta in the hallway.

"What are you doing in here? I thought you were outside."  She asked him.

Vegeta grunted at her. "I concentrate better when my bladder is empty."

Bulma grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the door. "Get out there!"

"You're insisting that I go to the gravity chamber?  This is interesting." He halted dead in his tracks with the intent on milking this for everything it was worth.

"Over the years I've become aware of what normal training sounds are, and those are not normal training sounds!" Bulma said. "Your mother is cleaning the kitchen. That's Bra and Potay fighting, you have to stop them _right now_!"

Vegeta glared at her. "If Bra has taken the initiative to fight on her own, then I'm sure as hell not going to stop her."

"GET OUT THERE NOW!"    

"Don't order me, woman!" Vegeta said and would have said some more things if he wasn't distracted by the massive upsurge in his daughter's ki. A millisecond later a loud explosion rocked the house.  Vegeta ran outside with Bulma following and yelling.

"IDIOT! IF MY BABY'S HURT I'LL KILL YOU!" 

They both halted at the sight outside. The gravity chamber was completely destroyed. Scrap metal littered the yard in massive piles and in the very center of it all there stood Bra, staring off into space, seemingly unharmed.

Vegeta felt her ki to be extremely low and shook off his shock. He ran to her, stepping over an unconscious Potay.

"Bra! " He yelled at her. She didn't even look at him. He grabbed her, an arm in each hand and yelled her name again. 

She woke up as if in a trance and looked up at him. "Daddy?"

"How did you do this? Tell me!" He said.

Bra just stared at him. "I..don't know." She mumbled.

Vegeta scowled at her. That wouldn't do. It just would..not ..do!

"ANSWER ME!" He screamed and shook her violently. 

Bra's face scrunched up and tears fell from her eyes. She wrenched herself from his grasp and ran to the house sobbing.  Bulma ran after her. Vegeta looked after, knowing he had just done a terrible thing. 

"What the hell happened?" Potay asked as he threw some scrap off him. Vegeta glared at him, knowing he must have done some very intense provoking to get Bra to even consider fighting, let alone spark her power. Potay glared back as evilly as Vegeta glared at him.  The boy's sheer audacity was enough to make him go insane. Sala ran to him, and Potay then turned his attention to shunning her.

Vegeta slowly started back to the house, not knowing what he was going to do now.

Bra winced as she heard the door to her parent's room slam. Her mother's quick gait passed her bedroom door and disappeared into the house. She listened for her father but he didn't follow. Never had her parents yelled at each other like that. At least not since she had been born.  

Tears dropped from her eyes and seeped into the carped. She rolled over and stared up at the underside of her mattress.  Ever since she was little, she would hide under her bed when her father got cross with her, rare as that was.  She'd wait a little while; maybe a half an hour at the most, then he'd come in, lift up the bed and tell her they were going for ice cream.  Her mother used to tell her how much her father loved her, how happy she made him. Now he was different. He was angry all the time. He wasn't going to lift up the bed today. He was different. He should be happier now than ever, what with having his mother back and Sala and Letta. Everyone he had ever loved was here now. If it weren't for her power…

Bra slid out from beneath the bed and stood up and looked down at her hands.

"This stupid power! I hate it!"  She spat. _It's ruining everything._ Her shoulders slumped in defeat. 

_I'm ruining everything for Daddy._

Her jaw clenched in ascending frustration, then her fists. 

"I've had enough of this. I'm not going to hide anymore." She said in a whisper, crossed the room and flung open her window.

Potay lounged up in a tree, petting one of the Briefs' many cats and looking at the massive mess below him. A noise startled him and he looked up to see Bra leap from the third story of the house and fly off. He discarded the cat hastily and followed her.

"Well it's about time!" A female voice said gleefully. The aqua haired Saiyan flew through earth's skies on several massive view screens. A shadowed arm pushed a button on a panel below the largest and central screen. 

"The Princess has left her protected area. Commencing stage one of Operation Prophecy."


	14. Arrival

****

The Princess

Chapter 14: Arrival

By: senzubean

I do not own Dragon Ball Z in any way. I make no profit from this story. I just wrote it for fun.

Saturday was a busy day for Satan City Shopping Center. With three levels and over five hundred goods and services establishments, the place was teeming with happy consumers. Most of these consumers were teenagers ,mostly girls shopping for clothes. Bra would normally be part of this but not today. Today she was truly unique. She was wandering about quite aimlessly paying little attention to the people around her, not caring when she bumped into someone and not acknowledging her friends. Bra was a popular girl at Orange Star High and not just a few of her classmates had tried to gain her company that happy afternoon. Bra completely ignored them, leaving them all scratching their heads at the change in the characteristically oober friendly girl.

Bra had just gravitated towards the mall, she didn't care where she was, she didn't want to be anywhere right now. She just wanted to disappear into a crowd of people, leaving nothing for those stupid aliens to hunt down. But she knew that would never happen. They would come looking for her, maybe sifting through an entire mall of people would slow them down. She was scared. She wasn't going to lie to herself about that. All she wanted was for this all to be over and she wanted to finish it herself. Unfortunately, fabricating a battle plan was proving to be more difficult than she had thought. She had been wandering around for a long time thinking before she had started to realize things. Things like she had never been in a real battle alone, save for that one time at the martial arts tournament when this whole mess started, and that technically wasn't a battle. She had no idea what to expect from her enemy, yet another roadblock. Her father had stressed the importance of that detail to the point of redundancy, but she had completely forgotten about it when she really needed to apply it. And speaking of her father, the mall would be the first place he'd look for her. Bra frowned both mentally and physically.

__

I have to leave. This is my fight, and I don't want Dad interfering.

Bra folded her arms, and walked a little faster.

__

But, I'm not a warrior. I know that. What chance am I going to have against those monsters when one of the weaker ones nearly strangled me? And if I die, Daddy definitely will not be happy. Bra heaved a sigh and stopped, staring at the tiled floor under her feet. _Why did life have to get so hard all of a sudden? I need to think of something else..._

She didn't get far in this venture, someone punched her square in the face. Bra gained her balance almost instantaneously and took on a very threatening battle stance.

"Holy crap!"

Bra blinked a few times, recognizing the voice. "Pan." She looked up at her very shocked friend.

"What is _wrong_ with you?" She asked after a few moments of flabbergasted staring. 

"Hmph!" Bra grunted as she rose. "What's wrong with you, punching me out of nowhere like that?"

Pan frowned. "That was for ignoring me! I called you everyday for three weeks and you didn't call back. And just now you stared right through me like I didn't even exist!"

"Sorry, Pan." Bra replied sincerely. "I have a lot going on right now and I'm not myself. It's no reason for ignoring you but..." Bra wanted to tell her the truth, but her father had told her not to tell any of the Sons about their family problem. He said he didn't want them involved. Trunks chalked it up to pride, but Bra thought her father was right. This whole thing was so complicated and nasty. Pan looked at her skeptically. Bra flinched internally. Pan wasn't going to be satisfied with an unfinished sentence. She knew that something was up and she wasn't going to leave it be until she knew exactly what it was and how she could help out.

"You're just going to have to tell me what's wrong, Bra chan. I know that it's something big."

"Whatever gave you that idea?"

Pan laughed disdainfully. "Besides the fact you've ignored me, you've also ignored everyone else. I thought Mysti and Sara were nuts when they told me you didn't even acknowledge them, but then I met a handful of other people we know who have been talking about the same thing."

Bra blushed a deep crimson only now realizing what a spectacle she'd made of herself. 

Pan smiled wily, "I never thought you'd stare right through Fader."

"Fader?" Bra eeped. Pan nodded slowly. Bra yelled in self loathing. "Damn it!" She had been crushing over Fader for a good year now, subtly, only Pan knew. Pan laughed, she found it extremely funny how Bra was reacting.

"Don't worry, Bra, everyone knows you're kinda weird anyway." Pan teased. "Seriously though, what's going on?" 

Bra slumped down and heaved a tired sigh. "It's really better if you didn't know, Pan. I'm sorry. When It's taken care of, I'll tell you." Bra then looked at the floor again, her redness faded into a pale pink.

__

I can't tell her if I'm dead.

"At least tell me who that guy is."

"What guy?" Bra asked, she followed Pan's outstretched arm to where she had pointed. She yelled in utter choler at the site. Peeping between the leaves of a giant potted plant was Potay.

Bra marched right over and shoved the massive tree out of the way. Potay stood there, casually as if he just happened to be there.

"What are you doing here?" Bra exclaimed.

Potay grunted and shrugged apathetically.

"You're an alien! _An alien_! You can't just wander around in public!" Bra said as quietly as she could despite her extreme rage.

"You're father seems to have no problem doing it."

"He doesn't have his tail anymore!" Bra said between gritted teeth, she really wanted to kick the crap out of him. "Look at you, you're wagging yours around like you want people to take notice of it."

"Saiyans don't _wag _their tails, but you couldn't have known that since you're not a real saiyan."

Bra snarled and lunged at him threateningly. Pan caught her arm before she could smack Potay.

"Bra, is he really..you know..a.."

Potay laughed then replied, very sarcastically, "Yes, I'm one of those nasty Saiyans you've probably heard so much about. Feel free to run, I may just kill you."

"As if!" Bra exclaimed. "Pan would kill you, you pathetic weakling."

"At least I'm not stupid." Potay retorted.

"WHY YOU......!" Bra screamed. Pan threw herself on Bra to keep her from starting a fight in the middle of the mall and add to the spectacle.

"Bra, just calm down and we'll talk this over some chili dogs." Pan exclaimed over Bra's cursing and growling. Bra slowly calmed down. She was still visibly enraged but at least she didn't look as if she would tear Potay apart anymore. 

Pan exhaled in utter relief, she really didn't feel like getting in between two fighting saiyans. 

"We'll go outside and talk about it there." Bra said.

"Why not the food court? I'm kinda hungry." Pan said and put her hands on her stomach like her Grandfather used to do all the time.

"Me too." Potay piped in.

"We're not going to the food court!" Bra exclaimed.

"How come?" Pan asked bewildered for the umpteenth time that afternoon.

"Unless it's free, she won't be providing." Potay pointed out and flashed a smirk in return to Bra's icy glare of death.

"You don't have any cash on you?" Pan asked astounded. This was truly a day of firsts.

"Does it look like I have any money on me?" Bra demanded to know. She was wearing her training outfit, baggy pants with no pockets and a tight tank top. Not to mention her father, in sly wisdom, confiscated each and every one of her monetary resources in order to keep his daughter from the very place she had escaped to.

Pan smiled at her friends way of dealing with her embarrassment. Vegeta would never be dead so long as Bra was alive.

"I'll treat you guys. I had a great report card this term." Pan smiled.

"I'll pay you back." Bra replied. 

"Whatever." Pan replied and started off in the direction of the restaurants.

Bra glared at Potay yet again. "Come on, stalker." She grumbled and followed her friend. Potay chuckled, very amused by Bra's complete disgust with him.

Vegeta, after much self loathing and cursing himself, ventured out of his room and down the hall. He stopped and lingered in front of his daughters door. He didn't know what to say to her this time. He'd hoped that standing outside her room would help him think of something, but it didn't. So, he decided he should just try and wing it, praying to kami he didn't screw things up more than he already had.

He knocked on the door, waited, there was no answer. 

"Bra, can I come in please." He said in his most non-threatening voice ever. Despite this, there was no response.

"We have to talk." He added. There was no answer.

"I'm not angry with you." He said unable to hide his exasperation. Bra refused to answer. He sighed, he didn't want to resort to this but he couldn't just leave her fuming with anger. That was both unproductive and dangerous. He kicked open the door and poked his head inside. Right away he noticed that his daughter was missing. Unconcerned, he walked over to the bed and stood it up on its side. Bra was not among the stuff hiding under there. Vegeta let the bed drop and looked around the room again. He tried the closet, thinking that maybe Bra had chosen a different place to hide after years of the same place. Again, he found a mess but not a trace of Bra. He scanned the room, thinking that maybe she retreated to somewhere else in the house but he didn't feel her ki elsewhere. Suddenly, it dawned on him that he couldn't feel her ki here either. Only then did he notice the open window. He stood there frozen for a moment then proceeded to curse his stupidity. He hadn't even felt her disappear. Her ki had been low and he was so upset he'd just sort of forgot about it.

"Damn it!" He cursed. His shock fast turned to a mix of fear and anger, mostly anger. "How could she?"

In the living room, Argo was pleasantly flipping through channels while Sala stared at the flashing screen.

"What do you want to watch?" Argo asked his daughter.

"I told you, Dad, I don't care." Sala replied in a monotone voice and sighed.

Argo looked at her concerned and continued to search.

Vegeta ran down the hall to the closet and rummaged for his shoes.

"What's up, Junior?" Argo asked and continued to change the channels.

"Bra left." Vegeta spat, at the same time Sala lunged at her father, grabbing the romote from his hand.

"Sala.." Argo exclaimed then watched his daughter's peculiar behavior. She stood in front of the TV, frantically changing the channels. Meanwhile, Vegeta had finally gotten his shoes on and flung open the door.

"WAIT!" Sala yelled at him.

"Bra escaped, I have to find her before those murderers do!"

"You might be too late." Sala said grimly, finally locating the channel she wanted. Argo gasped at the sight on screen.

"What?" Vegeta demanded, not liking what their reactions implied.

On TV a local reporter was babbling on about something. Vegeta recognized the backdrop behind her. It was that infernal Mall his daughter loved so much. 

"...witnesses here at the Shopping Center have informed us that this strange craft arrived about ten minutes ago. It is not known where the craft has originated, but it does not appear to be any sort of earth craft."

The screen flashed to show a space ship hovering over the mall.

" They wouldn't have stopped out in the open like that if they weren't certain Bra was there." Sala said. Vegeta stared at the screen, he didn't respond.

Sala grabbed him by the arm and dragged him towards the door. 

"Come on, there's still time." 

Vegeta snapped out of his shock and threw Sala off him. Sala crashed against the wall leaving him a free path to exit, he practically flew through the door.

"Tell everyone what's happened." Sala told her father and followed.

"So let me get this straight." Pan said as she finished what she was chewing. "Your father's mother, whom he believed to be dead for over fifty years, actually wasn't and has been saving people all over the galaxy all this time. And there's a prophecy involving you and some wacko aliens who wanna kill you."

Bra nodded as she sipped her soda.

"Cool!" Pan exclaimed.

Bra raised one eyebrow and frowned at Pan. "Even the wacko killer aliens part?" 

"Oh please, as if Vegeta can't handle that."

"He can't handle it if he isn't here." Potay piped in, the first thing he'd said since they'd got their food.

Bra scowled at him. "Well this is all your fault, you know?"

"Is it?"

"Yes!" Bra replied.

"Did I tell you to take off to the mall?"

"No, but you made me so angry I used my power and scared Dad."

"He didn't seem scared to me. More like angry."

"That's just how he is, not that it's any of your business."

"You're the one who brought me into it." Potay replied and popped a fry into his mouth. Bra growled and crushed her soda cup in her hand.

"Wow, you guys sure don't like each other." Pan said.

"What an observation." Bra replied sarcastically.

"Hey! I just bought your lunch." Pan snapped back.

"Sorry." Bra replied. "This ass hole just puts me in a bad mood."

"You're not too fun to be around either." Potay said.

With that, Bra lost it. She jumped up and slammed her fists on the table. "I tried to be nice to you. I was friendly! _You're_ the one who attacked _me_ twice! You're the one being a jerk!"

"Well it's not like I don't have a reason."

"Oh yeah. 'My Dad was killed since my Mother decided to protect you!'" bra mimicked in a winey voice. "For your information, loser, my father is a hundred times more powerful than your mother, he never needed her help."

Potay jumped up. "She was still here and not with us! If it weren't for your father, mine would still be alive."

"Now you're blaming my father." Bra stated unbelievingly.

Potay spit disgustedly on the floor. "They spent years just trying to find him. He was more important to them than anything. My father and I were important until he showed up again. That's why I hate him, and you, and everyone else! Do you know what it's like to hate everyone you ever cared about?"

Bra looked at him, she was in no state of mind to try and console him. "If you feel that way, it's your problem."

"No, I've made it your problem."

"What are you talking about?"

Potay turned his back to her and folded his arms across his chest.

"Answer me!" Bra ordered. By now the entire food court was openly gawking at them.

"You're bait."

"What?" Bra asked astonished.

"I'm using you to lure that _thing _that killed my Dad here."

Bra gaped. "How do you even know that will work? It could be someone completely different!"

"If it is, I'll just have to try to lure it out some other way."

"And what about me?" Bra demanded.

Potay shrugged. "I don't care what happens to you."

Pan and Bra both gazed at him in utter shock.

"You're awful.." Pan said.

"Because I'm trying to get what I want?" Potay grunted. "Prince vegeta has used people to get what he wanted, hasn't he Princess?"

Bra was unscathed by that. "I think if you confronted him on that, he'd tell you that he made a lot of mistakes."

"Well everyone's entitled to their mistakes, we'll learn whether or not this is one later." Potay replied.

"I think you already know this is a mistake." Bra said. "I know you're not as horrible as you're acting. You can't be, not with the family you have."

Potay glared at her. "Think about what you just said. Do you suppose Recely was anything but the perfect mother? But your father was once one of the most hated tyrants in all the universe. Things happen to make people go bad and...."

"Lots of people lose their fathers. " Bra interrupted.

Potay scowled hard at Bra. Bra glared right back. Pan bit her nails and mumbled under her breath.

"Hmph!" Bra grunted, turned and started to walk away. 

"Where are you going?" Potay demanded icily.

"Home." Bra replied. 

Potay looked after her. This was a problem. He didn't want anyone but him around to fight the murderers when they came. He opened his mouth to throw an insult at her to keep her from leaving but his words were drowned out by the sound of a massive explosion and the shattering of the skylight above. Shards of glass crashed to the floor, sending shoppers scrambling to get out of the deadly rain. The three saiyans were the only people not running and screaming, although Bra was certainly considering running. She was too taken aback by sight of the spaceship hovering over the skylight. Sharp pains tore at her stomach, this was the moment she'd been waiting for, but she wasn't so brave now.

A dark figure appeared over the opening and started its descent. It was a large spider creature, humanoid and female with six long arms, two legs, four breasts and about ten eyes. She was quite sinister looking, most of her body was covered with metal and she was carrying a massive firearm, it took all six of her arms to hold it.

The thing stopped about ten feet above the group of young saiyans. The shoppers and workers of the mall looked on, curious and petrified at the same time, giving them a wide birth, which was not nearly wide enough.

The spider woman chuckled, all of her eyes focused on Bra and nothing else.

"Hello Princess," It said in a multi toned voice, all slithery and evil. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

Bra suppressed most of a frightened gasp and very cautiously started to back up. This caused the creature to laugh outright at the girl. "Where do you think you're going? We have business you and I."

"YOUR BUSINESS IS WITH ME!" Potay yelled after shaking off his own doubts. He leapt into the air and charged head on. He pulled back his arm for the first attack. The alien didn't even budge until he was upon her, then in an action so fast it was undetectable by any of the saiyans, she took aim with her gun and fired at the boy. Potay flew across the mall on the end of a huge beam of light, plummeting through the plate glass windows of Bra's favorite clothing store.

Bra gaped at what had just happened. Only an hour before she had been locked in serious combat with that kid. They had been well matched and she would only admit to herself that she had had difficulty fighting him. 

__

I don't stand a chance. I...I'm as good as..dead.

She felt her body falter and start shaking. This wasn't going to help her, she knew but she couldn't stop being terrified. Desperately, she tried to recall some of the things her father had told her about going into battles. He'd told her to think. Think of every conceivable advantage, no matter how trivial and take it. There was only one she could come up with. Only one shred of hope left for her. 

__

I have to summon up that power of mine. Somehow....

Bra looked up at the thing, laughing at her fear.

__

..somehow I have to find it. Slowly she let her body take the form of a fighting stance. 

__

After all, what better incentive than fighting for my life.

A blue aura of pure ki encircled the saiyan Princess. She summoned up as much as she could and yelled at the top of her lungs. Swiftly she took to the air to end this. Pan was startled for a millisecond, then she too did the same as her friend. 

Bra dodged several beams shot at her and managed to land a few blows to the aliens upper body. The creature winced and desperately tried to bat the offending girl away. Bra took note that it was actually quite un-warrior like of the alien to act like that. It was strong, Bra's determined blows weren't sending her flying, but still, the alien was having problems standing up against them. Unfortunately, the creature managed, by grace of her super quick movements, to get the weapon between her and Bra. Bra was forced away by a mighty shove. The alien was unable to take aim though, as Pan was right back in where Bra had been forced from seconds before. The spider growled and snarled, quite angry at having two young saiyans working together and forcing her back. She managed to get Pan away by bringing her leg up and lashing out. Then she swiftly aimed her gun and fired at the girl. Like Potay, Pan flew across the mall, plowing into a food court stand. 

Bra screamed as she watched her friend soar away. Angered that she'd been hurt, Bra yelled and charged at the alien. But it was too late, the creature had gained enough time to re-aim the gun on Bra. Her body was forced down into the court fountain, creating a tremendous splash and cracking it's concrete bowl.

The spider woman gazed down hard on the now prone saiyan princess, floating face down in the damaged fountain. Keeping her gun targeted on her, the alien grumbled to herself. Pan, having recovered enough to at least sit up, noticed the hesitation and took the opportunity to get back to the battle ground. Pan realized that she was much too damaged to do anything, she stumbled as quickly as she could through the court.

"Wait!" Pan exclaimed up at the alien. The only thing she could do was try to reason with the monster, she knew that it was probably futile but she had to try. "She's no threat to you!"

The spider scowled, lowered her weapon and descended. Once on the ground she took a few cautious steps towards her target. Bra was awake and trying to pull herself out of the water. Her head was hanging over the lip, and she was panting, obviously she hadn't the energy right now to get herself out. The alien smiled. This was just how she wanted it. She reached out towards Bra, who tried to scramble away to no avail. The creature grabbed a handful of blue hair.

Pan screamed. "NO! LEAVE HER ALONE!"

The alien chuckled, brought up her arm and then slammed it to her side taking Bra's head with it. The young girls head collided with the concrete lip, rendering her unconscious. 

Pan winced then felt sick as Bra's head cracked on the stone. Promptly, the alien gathered Bra under two of her arms. She looked at the now crying Pan and smiled.

"Do you know who Prince Vegeta is, dear?"

Pan growled in rage. "You bet I do! Just wait until he finds out what you've done to his daughter! You're as good as dead!"

The alien seemed quite amused by that. "Indeed." She paused and hoisted Bra up against her side more securely. Pan felt for her ki. It was there but nearly undetectable, she could die at any second with a ki like that. 

"You will give him a message." The alien said.

"Please! Just leave Bra alone. She hates fighting. She'd never attack anything unless it attacked her first."

"Tell Prince Vegeta these numbers. 7: 45: 89. He'll understand. Now, repeat those numbers to me."

"Just leave her..."

The alien grimaced and aimed the gun at Bra's back. "If you don't repeat those numbers back to me, I will leave her corpse for her father to find."

Pan gulped. "7: 45: 89."

The alien smiled. "Smart girl. The quicker the Prince gets that message the better it will be for the Princess here. Keep that in mind." The alien started to levitate up towards the ship. Pan watched helplessly, then started to summon up as much energy as she could. Gradually she began to rise.

"No! I can't let you take her!"

The alien ignored her and was already inside the ship before Pan rose past the opening in the ceiling. The doors shut and the ship took off. The wind created by the departure pushed her away.

Defeated, she gazed at the vapor trail. "Oh, Bra..." All at once she felt a ki she knew to be Vegeta approach and fly past her.

"Vegeta!" She screamed and descended after him. Sala was close behind them both.

Inside, Vegeta frantically scanned the mess. He didn't see his daughter anywhere. His eyes darted all over the place, looking for any _remains_ that could have once been Bra. Relieving him somewhat was the absence of any scorch marks or charred clumps of material. He did however notice the large blood smear on the lip of the fountain. He went over and touched it. "Bra...."

"Vegeta!" Pan called again as she landed. She ran over to him now crying hysterically. Vegeta's stomach sank even more at the sight of this. "I tried to stop her! I tried!"

"Where is Bra?" He demanded.

"The alien took her!"

"Took her?" Vegeta and Sala said in unison. Vegeta set his jaw and clenched his fists, trying to prepare himself for the answer he was about to get. "Was she dead?"

"No. She was still alive, but she was hurt _very_ badly."

Vegeta released some air in relief. That gave him some hope. "I must find that alien!" 

"If we hurry maybe we can still track its ship!" Sala said. Vegeta nodded and powered up, ready to take to the air. 

"Wait, it said something!" Vegeta and Sala looked at her. 

"What?" Vegeta spat.

"It told me to tell you the numbers 7: 45: 89. She said it was a message for you, Vegeta."

"That sounds like co-ordinates for a planet." He said.

"That's exactly what they are." Sala concurred.

"But, that makes no sense." Vegeta argued. "Why would Polkrif tell me where they've taken my daughter to kill her? He's just signed his death certificate!"

"Has he?" Sala said, eyebrows furrowing. "Obviously he has a plan."

"Hmph!" Vegeta grunted. "I have no time to speculate about it." He was just about to leave again, when another commotion from across the mall distracted them.

"What now?" Vegeta said.

From out of the protesting crowd, Potay emerged. Sala shrieked at the sight of her damaged son and ran to him. Vegeta glared at the boy. Every muscle in his body clenched and he started to emit throaty growls of rage. Sala didn't notice, but Pan did and backed away.

"What are you doing here? What happened?" Sala asked.

"That alien killed Dad." Potay replied. 

Tears fell down Sala's eyes. "You shouldn't have fought him."

Potay wrenched himself out of his mother's hold, only to be trapped by another. Potay gasped for air, Vegeta had him by the throat and was intent on squeezing the life out of him.

"Stop it!" Sala yelled and grabbed onto Vegeta's arm, trying to pry him off her son.

"You planned this didn't you, boy?"

"Yes." Potay choked out.

Potay's blatant admittance to that shocked Vegeta. But he fast regained his anger "WHY?"

"I..wanted ..to be... the one..to ..defeat..!" Potay said.

Vegeta snarled and squeezed tighter. "My child could be dead right now because of you!" Sala begged and cried for Vegeta to stop. Potay was starting to go limp from suffocation.

"Let him go , Vegeta." The calm voice of reason halted everyone. They all looked back at Recely. "He made a grave mistake, but he doesn't deserve to die for it."

"He brought your grand-daughter to the enemy! How can you side with him?" Vegeta protested.

"He is part of our family too, Son."

Vegeta growled and threw Potay to the floor. The boy gasped for air. Sala flung herself on him in utter relief.

"I'll never consider that tyrant family." Vegeta spat . He glared at Potay. "I'll hate you forever." With that, Vegeta took off through the hole in the roof. Everyone in the entire mall was silent.

"I want to help get Bra back." Pan announced

Recely looked at her blankly. Then smiled. "You are a member of Kakarrot's family."

Pan nodded. "I'm his grand-daughter." 

Recely smiled again. "You will go home to your family and let ours handle this." Pan's face sunk with disappointment. "We appreciate the offer, but there's no need to involve anyone else in this battle."  
Pan didn't try to argue. She had just been given an order by a saiyan queen. It was a gentle order, but an order that should not be contested. So, she resigned to that.. "Please bring Bra home safe. She's my best friend."

"We'll do our very best." Recely replied. "Now go, if your family has heard what's happened here they'll be worried."

Pan nodded and flew off.

Recely looked over to Sala and Potay. "It looks like we have some planning to do, come, there's not much time." Then she too flew off, a little more hastily than Pan.

Potay tried to fly on his own, but was unable to get off the ground. Sala put his arm over her shoulder and carried him.

"Why did you do it Potay? You said you saw her murder your father. You must have known you'd never stand a chance." Sala asked as they flew.

"I wanted to help him then. But...I was scared. If I had've helped out then maybe he wouldn't have died." He replied painfully.

"No, you both would have died at the same time." Sala replied.

"Still." Potay argued " I wanted to do something for Dad. I wanted to avenge him."

"I understand that, Potay. But your father wouldn't have wanted you to sacrifice the life of someone else to do that."

Potay looked at her, then clenched his eyes shut. "No, he wouldn't have."


	15. Negating The Prophecy

****

The Princess

Chapter 15: Negating the Prophecy

By: senzubean

I do not own Dragon Ball Z in any way. I make no profit from this story. I just wrote it for fun.

The scene at the Brief's homestead was a depressing one. The aliens message provided little hope to any of them. Bulma was beside herself with grief, crying into Letta's shoulder. 

"Don't cry, Mom," Trunks said, trying to be optimistic but inside he was just as devastated as his mother. "Why would they take her somewhere else to...." His words dropped off into silence, he was unable to continue the sentence. 

"Polkrif must want to get rid of us all at once, using Bra as bait." Sala stated.

"My baby's dead. Sh..she's dead. I know it." Bulma sobbed.

Vegeta growled, he couldn't stand it anymore. "No, you don't know that."

Bulma did not agree. "It's obviously a trap Vegeta! They wanted _you_ all along! If you go there the only thing you'll find is Bra's corpse!" Her words had all the power they usually held when arguing with her husband, but the look on her face severely contradicted them. Vegeta did not respond to that, he didn't even turn around. Bulma went back to crying.

"I don't want you to go."

Vegeta was appalled by that statement, he whirled around and confronted her." You want me to leave our daughter to die?"

"She's already dead!" Bulma screamed. "And if you go they'll kill you too!"

Vegeta grunted. "How can you make that assumption so easily? Until I hold her lifeless body in my arms, I will not jump to that conclusion." He paused, regaining his composure. "Besides, there's no way I will be defeated by such cowardly warriors."

"That's what you always say." Bulma spat and pushed herself up abruptly. "And every time you lose." She added then retreated to her room.

Everyone stared after her, only Trunks dared a comment. "She didn't mean that, Dad. She's just upset."

"She meant it." Vegeta replied. "It's the truth after all." 

Trunks opened his mouth to reassure his father but Vegeta silenced him with a look. 

"This time _will _be different."

"Of course it will," Sala replied. "because we're all going to help you." Trunks and Letta agreed solemnly.

"No!" Vegeta spat. "I am going alone. If it's a trap, I will be the only one to fall into it."

"Dad!" Trunks exclaimed. "Don't be stupid!"

"Don't try my patience, son. " Vegeta replied. 

"B..but..."

"But nothing! That's my decision."

"It's not fair!" Potay exclaimed. Everyone looked at him. Argo took a hold of his arm and gave him a warning glance not to continue.

"You want to talk to me about fairness?" Vegeta snarled at him.

"This is my fault. I want to help make it right."

"_I_ might not be able to make it right! What chance would a stupid kid like you have?" Vegeta said. "You never had my trust and you never will. You're lucky you're still breathing let alone in my house!" 

Potay lowered his eyes and gave up this time. There was a long silence after that.

"Um, Vegeta." Letta said meekly. "How are you going to get to that planet? I checked my scouter just before you came back and there's ships surrounding Earth right now. As soon as they see you coming they'll attack."

"I can handle it." Vegeta replied.

"You're not going alone, Dearest." Recely said. It was the first they heard from her since they'd returned from the mall. 

"Yes, I am!" Vegeta practically yelled.

"No, you're not!" Recely replied forcefully. "I am going with you because we have no idea what awaits us on that planet. With two of us, one can hold off any opposition while the other looks for Bra. Letta is going to pilot the ship, she's the best at maneuvering around enemy fire. Sala and Trunks are going to stay here and defend the Earth from Polkrif's men if they decide to land. As for the rest of our battle plan, we'll form one on the way to the planet. How long will it take to get there, Letta?"

"I'll have to double check on the ship's computer but I think the numbers correspond to the Gris system. That's about three days away at the very least."

Vegeta suppressed a moan in reaction to that. Three days was a long time. Anything could happen by then.

"Then we had better be off now." Recely replied. 

Vegeta retreated quickly to the backyard followed by his Mother and Letta. They were almost at the ships gangplank when he stopped. Trunks was behind him.

"Didn't you hear what your grandmother said?" Vegeta demanded not appreciating the further delay.

"I don't care, I'm going too." Trunks replied, standing firm under his father's unimpressed glare.

Father and Son both stood their ground, neither flinching under the cold stares they were giving each other. Amazingly, Vegeta was the first to falter. 

"Go warm up the ship, I'll be there in a second." He said to Letta and Recely. As soon as they were gone, he approached his son, walking right up under his gaze.

"I want you to stay here."

"No! I won't!"

"You'd leave your mother and Argo unprotected?"

"Sala's here, and the Sons will come ...."

"Your mother _needs you_ right now." 

"Nothing I could say will console her! Why don't you just admit you don't want _me_ to help you! Damn it, Dad! Why? I'm not useless!" His face twisted as he struggled against his emotions, finally giving way to broken sobs. "She's my sister. I..I want to help get her back."

"Trunks, please..." He said wearily, then took on a much softer expression than normal "I've already lost one of my children today, I can't bear to lose another."

Trunks continued to repress his sobs, embarrassed that he'd broken down in front of his father of all people. He nodded slowly and turned away.

"Take care of your mother." Vegeta added and went to the ready and waiting spaceship.

Trunks wiped his face in his sleeve as Argo, Sala and Potay joined his side. They all watched the ship slowly rise into the night sky and then take off and disappear among the stars.

"Look at them." Letta spat as she maneuvered her way through five firing space crafts. It took her less than a minute to get past all of them unscathed. She flew for a few moments waiting for them to follow, but they were free and clear.

"They're not coming after us." She said and looked to Recely. "You _know_ they're going to attack the Earth. If we turn back right now we can shoot them all down."

Recely grunted in agreement. "But we can't risk damaging the ship and we'll lose precious time. Trunks and Sala will be able to handle any warriors that descend, I'm positive of that."

"If that's what you want to do." Letta said and looked at Vegeta, who was standing by his mother's chair, staring at the view screen. 

He slowly nodded. "Trunks will be fine."

Back on Earth a half hour had passed. Trunks Potay and Sala stood out in the yard, waiting.

"Maybe we've lucked out." Sala said after thirty minutes of complete silence.

"No." Trunks replied. "I felt strange and powerful ki appear on earth about ten minutes ago and it's been getting gradually more powerful ever since. They're coming all right, and they'll be here any minute."

Sala nodded and looked at Potay. "Go inside the house."

"No!" Potay yelled. "I'm going to fight."

Sala gave him a hard look. "How many are there, Trunks?"

"At least ten."

"See?" Sala said to Potay. " Ten is a lot of warriors to handle at once, in the confusion one or two might get past us into the house. You need to make sure that no one hurts Bulma and your Grandfather."

Potay nodded reluctantly, and slunk back into the house.

"That was easier than usual." Sala said. Trunks smiled warmly at her. 

"The battle shouldn't be too bad either."

"Especially not with us helping!" A familiar voice called playfully and the owner of said voice landed lightly at Trunks' side. 

"Goten!" Trunks exclaimed, a broad smile brightened his saddened face. Pan and Gohan were close behind.

"Hi Trunks!" Pan exclaimed and waved, her face was still sad despite her smile. Gohan took off his glasses, his face somewhat grim. 

"You guys should have told us something was up." He said.

"Mom and I wanted to, but Dad didn't want to get anyone else involved."

"It must be bad then."

Trunks shrugged. "This battle will be nothing now. Dad and my Grandmother have the biggest problem on their hands. Bra may be dead."

"We shouldn't think about that now. Let's just get these intruders off our hands." Gohan replied. "Speaking of which, they're here."

About sixteen warriors appeared in the sky above. 

"Looks like you underestimated the numbers a bit." Sala remarked to Trunks.

"Yeah, " He agreed, taking a battle stance with all the others. "But that just means that each individual is weaker than I assessed."

"Remember, they could be able to suppress ki." Gohan warned.

"Right." Everyone agreed. Gohan Trunks and Goten went super saiyan right away.

"Let's go!" Trunks exclaimed and all three flew off. Pan and Sala exchanged glances. Sala didn't budge but powered up. Pan nodded, understanding that Sala wanted her to help her guard the ground while the men fought in the air. It didn't take long for half-beaten aliens to fall like rain. Sala and Pan had their hands full making sure they didn't get back up.

Very far away, somewhere dark and hollow, Bra was coming to at an excruciatingly slow pace. Her eyes were half open and staring. Her head hurt so much she couldn't turn it and she couldn't make out a thing in her line of vision. Her thoughts, like the sounds echoing around her, were broken and blurry. Minute by minute, things were becoming slightly less muddled. She was cold, and after she made that discovery everything else came tumbling into place. 

"Where am I?" She mumbled, blinking to try and see what was around her. All she could make out was a pitch black sky and hills of dirt. Gusts of cool air blew about her, making her that much colder. Knowing she couldn't just lay there, she very carefully began to stir. Thankfully, all of her limbs responded to the commands her brain gave them. With her head and neck hurting as much as they did, she was afraid she had been paralyzed. She sat up, and nearly fell back to the ground. It was taking everything she had to keep herself upright.

She looked around. There were dirt hills in every direction as far as the eye could see. The wind blew her hair in her face, but she noticed that no dirt accompanied the gusts. She thought that was strange, forgetting for an instance her sheer terror at being completely alone and hurt in this desolate place. She was obviously outside as indicated by all the outdoor features of the place, but for some very odd reason, she felt the space to be limited, as if the black surrounding her were actually walls and she was indoors. But wind and dirt?

__

That doesn't matter. Bra reminded herself and pushed herself to her feet. She wobbled, but managed to stay standing. _Maybe I'm dead?_

She quickly decided against that conclusion. Her father had been dead twice and told her exactly what the underworld was like.

__

But he went to hell, maybe this is heaven.

A huge gust of wind nearly toppled her, she caught herself, but became extremely dizzy in the process. Her spinning head lead to nausea and she was sick all over the dark gray ground.

"I'm definately..not dead." Bra concluded. Her father said he'd felt no pain, even in hell. Bra felt very much pain right now. She sat down again in order to try and calm her stomach. 

"What is going on here?" Bra said, she felt desperate tears welling up. "No." She said aloud forcefully and stood back up. "I brought this on myself and whatever happens I'm going to face it. Death couldn't be worse than this anyway."

"Maybe not death itself, but the process of meeting death can be terrible indeed." A voice said from somewhere in the darkness, startling Bra. She looked around and saw no one. 

"Wh..who are you?" Bra demanded.

"I'm sure your grandmother has told you all about me."

"Polkrif." Bra said feeling chills shoot up her spine.

"At your service. Or rather, awaiting your service." He said and chuckled.

"What do you mean by that?" Bra asked backing up. Her eyes darted all around trying to find him. It sounded as if he were right behind her but no one was there. "Answer me!" She cried out forcing herself to sound angry.

"It's a surprise." Polkrif's voice replied slyly. "Why don't you just lay down and rest for now? Regain some of that impressive energy you saiyans are so proud of."

"No! You'll tell me what you want!" Bra replied. There was no response, not even laughter. "Polkrif!" She exclaimed. Frustrated beyond belief, she mustered as much energy as she could, which was not much, but enough to form a medium sized ki ball. She let it fly in the direction of the voice. It flew until it disappeared, not colliding into anything.

"What is this place!?" Bra screeched. She knew that he had something horrible planned for her and she couldn't do anything to stop it. She clasped her fists hard. 

__

I have to find more energy somewhere. I can't let him use me! 

To her utter disappointment, not to mention fright, she didn't find hidden reserves of power from within her, but felt herself slowly losing energy she had. She swooned, collapsing to her knees. All of a sudden she was exhausted. Her eyes became heavy and she could barely keep them open.

"Wh..what's wrong with me?" She mumbled as the rest of her body slumped to the ground. The cold wind blew across her prone body sending her into shivering fits. The last thing she was able to do was curl into a fetal position, then the darkness overtook her in the void.

Several feet away, the spider creature who had terrorized the Earth mall and kidnapped the saiyan princess sat at a huge machine. In front of her was a small console, into which she was busily typing commands. Attached to this was a massive metal box and three columns, each at least a hundred feet high. They reached towards an open skylight. Heavily insulated cables stretched from the columns to a massive satellite aimed at the starry night sky. The whole contraption dwarfed the spider woman and looked very out of place in the large empty room which it was built into.

The Spider creature hummed pleasantly as a string of data appeared on her monitor.

"Is it working?"

The spider jumped several inches out of her chair then whirled around to confront the person who'd snuck up on her.

"I asked you _nicely_ not to do that!"

The man, a humanoid simian, chuckled. 

"Arachne, you should relax."

"I'll relax when Prince Vegeta is dead."

The man smiled mockingly. "Why are you worried about him? He's nothing." 

"That's easy for you to say. You've never met him face to face."

"Things are very different now, Arachne. We hold the cards, not him."

Arachne snorted and turned back to the screen. "I held them once too, and lost them very easily."

The simian chuckled nastily. "I could point out the obvious but I won't, because you control my lovely machine. Now, answer my question."

"It needs to be tested properly. But it did trap that small amount of energy she expelled a few hours ago, that's encouraging. Let's just hope it can handle the absorption of large amounts."

"Impressive. I believe we have the perfect little powerhouse too, don't you agree?"

"I could have picked a better one."

"Really? Who?"

"Anyone! You don't mess with Vegeta and live to tell about it! Unless you are very, very lucky. You better hope this thing works properly." Arachne said gesturing to the machine. "If not, Vegeta is going to kill us, and saiyans don't kill nice."

"You're wrong, Arachne." The man replied, grabbing the spider by the throat. "_You_ had better hope this thing works, because if it doesn't _I'll kill you_ well before Vegeta gets here. Now, shut up and tell me the status of our little battery." He let her go, she choked and gasped for a second.

"She's as healed as she's going to get. We could test her immediately."

"Get on with it then."

Bra's eyes snapped open and she sat up. She was warm, she only had a dull headache. Instantly, she remembered where she was and jumped to her feet. Amazed at how much she'd recovered, she looked around curiously. The place didn't look any different, so she had no way to determine how much time had passed.

"I must have been out for days." She mumbled to herself and started to look herself over. It didn't appear that she'd been violated in any way. She didn't have any new scars or wounds and she felt pretty good considering the way she felt before.

Still, she was very, very upset.

"Polkrif! Tell me what is going on!" She yelled. Her voice echoed until it disappeared.

Briskly she began to walk.

__

I got here somehow, there must be an exit. I just hope I'm walking in the right direction.

She walked for what seemed like forever and the surroundings stayed exactly the same. 

Bra heaved a frustrated sigh. "Guess I'll walk in another direction now." She said and turned only to find a giant ki blast coming straight at her. She squealed and jumped out of the way. Shocked, she watched it disappear into the distance behind her.

"I didn't even feel that coming." She said trembling. She wasn't the best ki detector in the world, but she would have felt something that big coming at her under normal circumstances.. 

She heard chuckling from where the ki blast came at her. Hesitantly, she looked up. In front of her was a small horned creature, wearing pink and black saiyan style armor. Once again, Bra was at a loss as to what to make of this.

"You're Polkrif?" Bra asked the still chuckling creature. The only problem with that assumption was that this creature's chuckling tone was different from the voice that had addressed her before.

"So, you want to fight me , do you?" It asked smoothly.

"No." Bra replied. 

"You're pathetically weak. To be fair, I'll fight you with one hand behind my back. What do you say now?" 

"Hmph! I say don't patronize me! You're not Polkrif!" Bra spat. "Hey!" She yelled into the emptiness. "Fight me yourself, you jerk!"

With that, the creature fired at her. Again, she didn't feel it, but being prepared this time she easily dodged it.

"Enough of this." She said wearily and fired back. The hefty blast collided into the monsters chest, and was absorbed into the being. The thing laughed at her, the blast had done absolutely no damage. Again it fired at her, she dodged again and fired back. This scenario happened a few more times. Bra decided that it was getting her nowhere and went in for hand to hand combat. She didn't even land a single punch, the creature batted her away effortlessly. Bra bounced off the ground hard. The arm where she was hit was a mess, most definitely broken.

"Damn it!" Bra spat. The creature was still laughing. Bra fired at it again, with no luck.

In their lab, Arachne and Polkrif watched the meters of their machine gleefully.

"It's working great!" Arachne exclaimed.

"Excellent." Polkrif said. "How much energy do you suppose we'll get?"

Arachne laughed. "Don't worry, My Lord. By the time that Prince gets here, there'll be more than enough to facilitate your plans."

"This is joyous news, Arachne! When the universe is mine, you will be rewarded greatly!" Polkrif said excitedly. "Now, hurry and extract as much energy as you can from that little whelp. The sooner she's drained, the sooner she can be healed and the process can be started again."

Arachne nodded and typed some commands into the machine.

Bra tumbled across the plain for the third time. Her ki attacks were useless against the monster, and what was worse, every hit was absorbed and gave the creature more power. Bra cursed her ill luck, finding another fighter with the same power as hers. If only she could control her own, but she couldn't.

Panicking she tried to attack it twice and ended up in the dirt both times. Bloodied, tired and panting, she got up again. Her left arm was useless and after the last deflecting blow, she could add a few broken ribs to the list of injuries. Wearily she rose her good arm and fired her last ki attack. Now she was truly drained. The blast was pathetic compared to the others she'd thrown. The creature walked right into it, not flinching as it hit. Bra collapsed to one knee.

__

Well, this is it. At least I can say I tried.

She watched as the enemy stopped right in front of her, and didn't try to scramble away when it raised its arm. She remained put as it started to fall, and didn't make a sound when it hit her square on the head.


	16. Polkrif's Game

****

The Princess

Chapter 16: Polkrif's Game

By: senzubean

I do not own Dragon Ball Z in any way. I make no profit from this story. I just wrote it for fun.

"So, what'll you do with them?" Goten asked Sala around a mouth full of hamburger. All sixteen aliens were gathered in a surly heap in the middle of the yard. Six saiyans acted as guards, even though their prisoners were all too beaten to even run.

"As soon as we hear from Vegeta concerning Polkrif, we'll take them for trial at our main base. They'll definitely be sentenced to life in a maximum security prison."

"They deserve it." Trunks replied, passing around more food. Bulma was preparing it, trying to keep her mind busy. 

Sala nodded, then swallowed. "You know, they'd probably prefer to be dead rather than be incarcerated."

"I don't want to kill anyone." Trunks replied. Goten nodded in agreement, eyes wide.

Sala shrugged. "Well, just keep it in mind if you feel like releasing some pent up frustration later. We won't have news from Vegeta for a very long time."

Trunks groaned quietly and looked at his Mother. She'd heard that. She put down her barbecue tongs and quietly went back inside.

"Damn." Sala said ashamedly.

"It's all right, she knows that already." Trunks reassured her.

Pan grumbled. "Can't we take a spaceship and go help?" 

"No!" Everyone replied. Pan crossed her arms and grumbled some more.

Two and a half days had come and gone. Vegeta hadn't slept, despite his mother's protests. Insisting that he could fight fine without sleep, he passed the time meditating and trying to estimate what he was up against based on his mother's information on Polkrif. Unfortunately even she was at a loss as to what to expect. Polkrif's methods were different each and every time she did battle with him. He was an expert in surprises. Unable to know exactly what to expect, he was unable to form a battle plan. It wasn't a big deal. All battles required improvisation. The real downfall was when Vegeta realized he had to search for another topic of thought. Of course, Bra was the first thing that popped into his mind. He forced himself to think of something else. He had learned to accept his emotions over the years, but the kind he was feeling over the loss of his daughter were threatening to break his composure and ruin everything. So, his mind pondered other things.

"Mother, " Vegeta asked quietly. 

"Hmm?" Recely replied sleepily.

"How did you become a Super Saiyan?"

Recely shifted in her seat to get more comfortable. "It was during one of attempts to retrieve you. I was getting desperate, you were twenty five years old by then. We'd determined you to be back on Frieza's base and we knew Frieza had gone to Namek. So, we decided to take the opportunity to infiltrate it-"

"But I left for Namek before you got there." Vegeta finished for her.

"Yes, and the entire base was in a state of turmoil when we arrived. A few people were left, everyone else had deserted. We determined soon enough that Frieza was thought to be dead. And ..you had been executed." Recely added. She sighed. "When I heard that I ..lost it. The next thing we knew, half the planet was gone. I almost killed Sala and Letta that day." There was a long pause as Recely remembered the details painfully. "It was a long time before I was able to gain any control over my transformations, and I'm still not very good at them."

Vegeta hummed understanding. "I can teach you."

"I don't want to be taught. I will always hate fighting. And I'm getting old, I've started to slow down these past few months. There's no need for me to learn any new techniques when I'll be forced to retire soon." Recely replied.

Vegeta couldn't help but chuckle. "You're a bizarre saiyan, Mother."

Recely smiled. "I always knew that I was different from most saiyans, Vegeta. You know, I always could detect power without a scouter. No one believed that I could, not even your father."

There was a long silence. "You should have killed him when you had the chance. I would have forgiven you." Vegeta said.

Recely smiled. "I realize that now, Dearest. But at the time, you loved him. And heaven knows a part of me loved him too."

Vegeta nodded and appeared to go back to meditating.

"How did Zorn die?" He asked. Recely didn't answer. Vegeta looked at her, she was pale and looking at him with a sorrowful expression on her face. "Mother? What's wrong?"

"I just miss him." She replied almost mournfully. "He'd be so happy now. He wanted to be a father to you. He was a true warrior, he died in battle helping innocents on a planet Polkrif was trying to seize. Thanks to my Zorn, that bastard didn't succeed."

"I never knew you loved him." Vegeta said.

"Well, It wasn't until you'd been taken that I started to love him. He did so much for me on his own, I never once ordered him to do any of it. Of course your father did things for me too, but I usually had to coax actions out of him. And he had taken something of me for himself first, and it wasn't you." Recely shook her head sadly. "I don't want to hurt you Vegeta, but he loved your power well before he started to love you. I wish... he hadn't have been killed on Frieza's ship, so you could have experienced him actually caring for you."

Vegeta didn't answer for a few minutes. "I wish I had've seen that too. Maybe I would have been better to my son, instead of having to spend years learning how to be a decent father."

"Your children love you." Recely said solemnly. 

"I know." Vegeta replied then began to look much more depressed. "I'm very close to Bra. If she dies, a part of me will die too. I don't know what I'll do if that happens, but whatever it is, it won't be good."

Recely couldn't find a way to respond to that, since she had been unable to prevent it happening to herself. 

Abruptly, high pitched beeping sounded from across the room, rousing Letta from a deep sleep in her chair.

"Well, we're here." Recely stated recognizing the sensor alarm. Sure enough a small green planet was gradually getting larger in the view screen as they approached.

"I can't feel Bra's ki at all." Vegeta stated. He stared at the planet, rage quickly taking over his shock at not detecting his daughter. But then something he saw on the planets surface caught his interest.

"How.." Recely trailed off in utter confusion. Three numbers were etched into the planets surface.

"More coordinates." Letta stated. She quickly typed them into her computer and the database provided a visual and information of the planet it corresponded to. "That's in a completely different system, at least five days away from here."

Vegeta stared long and hard at the planet. Debating whether or not to believe this message, obviously left by Polkrif. It took a lot of effort to gauge out craters deep enough to show up from space. And when he concentrated, he realized that not only could he not detect Bra's ki, but there was little ki on the entire surface. Polkrif had destroyed an entire planet for the purpose of this little game of his. Vegeta barely managed to suppress a shudder at that. Polkrif was exactly like Frieza. 

"I want to go down there." he announced.

"Are you sure?" Recely asked. "If Bra is there, she is surely dead. We can come back after we've defeated Polkrif if he doesn't have her with him."

"No." Vegeta replied. Trying his best to ignore the logic. "There's still living beings down there. If one of those happens to be Bra, she likely won't still be living by the time we get back. Polkrif will wait."

Letta and Recely didn't respond. Letta immediately began landing procedures.

Bra woke with a start, looked around, and then started to panic.

"What's going on.?" She moaned as she sat up. Positive she should be dead, the familiar sight of the barren wasteland terrified her.

Chuckling rang out behind her. There was the creature again, and there was the energy ball. Bra leapt out of the way, skidding across the dirt.

"So, you want to fight me , do you?" It asked just as it had asked before.

Bra just stared, mouth agape. Terrified. 

"You're pathetically weak. To be fair, I'll fight you with one hand behind my back. What do you say now?"

Bra moaned again and scrambled out of the way as it fired.

The creature advanced, chuckling, throwing ki blasts with its free arm, all of which Bra dodged. 

Bra didn't like being afraid. In fact she hated it. She growled forcing her feelings into what her father had taught her to be a more useful emotion in battle, anger.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" She wailed and threw a barrage of ki blasts, each one more intense than the last, until finally she was exhausted and the enemy was engulfed in a massive dust cloud. Bra hacked and wheezed, then fell to her knees. Supporting herself with her hands, she then tried to stop shaking.

The chuckling started again and the creature emerged from the cloud of dust, unharmed and smiling. Tears fell from Bra's eyes. 

"Just kill me and be done with it." Bra said between gasps. Her opponent powered up again. Instead of dodging, she let the blast hit her. She half skidded half tumbled , until she stopped; a bloody mess. Her whole upper half felt like it was being stabbed over and over again with searing hot knives. Then, slowly she found herself struggling to breathe, choking on her own blood. All this took place with continuous laughter in the background, it only faded as she slowly lost consciousness.

Back in space, while flying as fast as they could to the next planet, Vegeta stared out the window. He watched the stars merge together, and tried to purge his mind of the anguish that was gradually building up. Biding his time until the moment he would turn all of that anguish into pure hot rage and find justice in ripping Polkrif limb from limb. He'd find justice for his wife, his son , his daughter, and his entire family. Not to mention for that planet he'd just spent five hours on, sifting through mangled corpses, searching for his daughter among them, and when not finding her, leaving them to be eaten by the only living things left, scavenging beasts. Vegeta realized that it was the first time he'd felt badly about a planet being massacred. He'd had a sudden idea, something that struck him deep down to the very bottom of his heart. Polkrif had killed all those people _just_ to toy with _him_. And if Polkrif had ordered Vegeta to do it, he would. For his little girl, he'd do it to a thousand planets.

"Vegeta." Recely said as she wrapped her arms around his neck loosely from behind. "I want you to sleep now."

"I can't."

"You haven't tried." 

"I _know_ I won't be able." He said, losing his patience.

Recely tightened her embrace. "It will take five days, dearest. Your mind needs a break. Trust me, _I know_ how to deal with this pain. You need the release that only a deep sleep can provide."

"And what release does Bra have as an option? Tell me that." Vegeta snapped.

"I don't know. Neither do you. But staying awake for nine days straight, agonizing over it will not help Bra at all. In fact, it will probably result in her death. You'll be in no condition to fight once we get there."

There was a long pause. Recely sighed and let her arms slip from her son's shoulders in defeat.

"Fine." Vegeta huffed and stalked off to the sleeping quarters.

Recely breathed deeply in relief.

"He certainly inherited your stubbornness, Recely dear." Letta said, and smiled over at her sister.

"I'm going to bed." Recely said in mock exasperation.

She was still in that desolate place. This time she wasn't surprised to be alive. After thinking she was done for three times already. She sat up and leaned on her arms. Any minute now that creature would be back throwing ki that only seemed to hurt her when it wanted. That was yet another discovery Bra had made. She had gotten fed up with beating a dead horse, becoming exhausted only to let that creature start to finish her in more painful ways than before. Bra shuddered and hugged herself, thinking about the battle she'd just woken up from. She'd become quite suicidal by that time and decided that it would just be a lot easier if she let the thing kill her at once and save her from the pain of gradually accumulating injuries. To her surprise her plan did not work. The ki that hit her, the very first blast hadn't even singed her clothes. The creature had made her so mad with its laughing and taunting that she'd finally retaliated and again got nowhere. The next ki blast hit her and she was done. 

Bra was determined not to have that happen again. She wasn't going to fight Polkrif's lackey anymore. Obviously, this whole place wasn't real, only the power was. Somehow, Bra needed to find out how to get out of there, but she was never given very long to think.

The alien came laughing behind her again. She let his initiating blast hit her back. Trying to tune it all out so she could concentrate, she fixed her gaze on the ground. Ten more blasts followed the first. As they hit, they began to get more painful. Bra bit her lip and stayed firm under the assault. But she was unable to think of anything but trying to suppress the pain. The creature stopped laughing.

"You can hit me all you want, Polkrif! I'm not giving you any more of my energy!" She announced. Bra's eyes furrowed and waited for the response. Surely there had to be one, she'd determined his plan after all.

After five minutes of no action, Bra gave up her attempt to ignore the alien and looked behind her. She gasped when she saw it.

It was no longer the alien, it was her father. This pushed her off the edge into full blown rage. 

"DO YOU THINK I'M STUPID? I KNOW MY FATHER WHEN I SEE HIM!"

"How about when you hear him?" The impostor Vegeta spoke, and it sounded exactly like the real Vegeta. Bra slowly rose and backed away a few steps.

"He's not my father." Bra repeated. "HE'S NOT MY FATHER!" She screamed. The fake Vegeta blasted her, sending her flying. Like the other creature the blast was accompanied without a ki signature. Bra knew Vegeta's ki signature better than anyone else's. This wasn't her father attacking her, but it was still creepy none the less. 

She was hurt. Wincing she rolled over onto her backside. She then glared up at the impostor, who was smiling down in a way Vegeta had never looked at her before. Bra felt like crying right there, but again, feelings of pure anger overshadowed her grief and terror.

"You're Pathetic." The impostor said.

"YOU ARE!" Bra bellowed and attacked the illusion. She attacked it with everything she had, everything she could muster. The fake Vegeta absorbed every ounce of energy thrown at it, but Bra seemed to have disregarded that.

"I'LL DESTROY YOU! HOW DARE YOU PRETEND TO BE MY FATHER!"

She continued her barrage until she was too exhausted to attack anymore. Falling to her knees, she panted, repeatedly mumbling to herself that this thing wasn't real . She looked up at the smirking illusion of her father and felt a wave of utter dispair overcome her. She shook it off, forcing herself to keep eye contact with it. 

__

Don't be so stupid. That's not Daddy. Polkrif wanted your energy and you just gave him a whole crapload of it. All because of stupid emotions.

Suddenly she felt another wave of devastation.

__

It's the same as before though. He's going to beat me now until I pass out. When I wake up, it'll start all over.

The fake Vegeta laughed, the sound made Bra tremble all over. She couldn't get rid of the feeling and just looking at it made her want to burst out crying. The thought of having to fight her father over and over again was just too terrible. Her opponent chose that moment to start finishing her off. Bra watched it advance, not moving. She hugged herself and looked at the ground helplessly. "I wish I were dead."


	17. Confrontation

****

The Princess

Chapter 17: Confrontation

By: senzubean

I do not own Dragon Ball Z in any way. I make no profit from this story. I just wrote it for fun.

"Well, there it is." Letta said as all three saiyans looked at the planet on the view screen before them." No messages are engraved into the surface of this one. " They had flown around the planet twice just to make sure.

"Shall we land?" Recely asked her son.

"No." Vegeta said as in a half daze. Recely and Letta hadn't noticed, but Vegeta had been not himself for a good five minutes now. "Get away from it."

Letta and Recely looked at him, now they were concerned.

"Why?" Recely asked carefully, seeing the look on his face. Letta just stared, not doing what Vegeta had told her.

"Now, Letta!" he ordered, snapping her out of her trance-like state. Letta then did as she was told.

Recely looked at her son, "What's wro..." then she felt what he'd felt for the past five minutes. Ki. A huge amount of ki, coming straight at them from the south of the ship. What was disturbing about the ki, was it was Bra's ki. But how Bra could possess that much ki was beyond either Vegeta or herself.

"Faster!" Vegeta yelled. "We're not going to be far enough away!"

"What are you talking about?" Letta demanded as she rammed the accelerator as much as it could go.

Her question was punctuated by a massive explosion that sent the ship careening out of control. It flipped it over, and it's occupants tumbled and smashed into walls, control panels and chairs until the ship settled again. Letta pulled herself back to the control panel as fast as she could. The thick metal walls shuddered under the impact of debris.

"Is there any damage?" Recely asked as she collapsed into a chair. 

"There's some damage to the right engine. What the hell was that? It destroyed that planet but nothing came up on the scanners. " Letta said.

Vegeta replied. "I can still feel Bra's energy south of here, but its dying off."

"That was Bra?" Letta asked dumbfounded.

"No! It was that bastard Polkrif!" Vegeta spat. His entire being was engulfed in a fire that begged to be released. Never had he been so enraged. "Polkrif is using her! How long will it take to get there?" Vegeta continued.

"That depends, How far away is she?" Letta asked.

"Far." Was all Vegeta said, all he was able to reply without any device to help him but his ki sense.

"With that engine down, our total speed will be cut in half."

"Damnit!" Vegeta yelled. He clenched his fists and his hair turned golden. Letta quickly started to get the ship on its way. 

"L..look at it this way, Vegeta." Letta started meekly. "At least you know that Bra is still alive."

That seemed to console him a bit as he relaxed his stance and let himself slip from super saiyan. "Yeah." He said in a nearly inaudible voice. _But for how much longer?_

A few hundred parsecs away, Polkrif chuckled pleasantly at his subordinate. 

"Do you suppose they got the message?"

"They'd be idiots if they didn't." Arachne replied dryly. "Do you think that was a good idea? Using up so much of the energy we collected to just draw that Saiyan here?"

Polkrif snorted. "If you had any power of your own, you'd know how very little energy it takes to destroy a planet. Besides, we've nearly gained it all back since we put that new opponent in that girl's head."

"She's fighting it _now_. But I think her patience is wearing thin. She's going to give up soon."

Polkrif snorted harder at that. "No she won't. She knows that her only choice is to give me her energy or face intense pain. And no one ever willingly chooses pain, do they, Arachne?"

Arachne said nothing and returned to her monitors.

"Vegeta will be here soon, my Lord. I suggest you get ready."

"STOP IT! STOP IT NOW!" Bra screamed and threw another huge energy blast at her father. He was laughing incessantly. Bra dropped to her knees and covered her ears with her palms. Whatever she did, she couldn't drown him out. She tried flying away, only to find she hadn't distanced herself from the sound. Still able to hear him through her hands, she fired again at it.

"I'LL GIVE YOU ALL THE ENERGY YOU WANT! JUST GET RID OF HIM! BRING BACK THE OTHER ONE!" Bra screamed up into the void above her head. Her father's laughing didn't disappear, indicating that her request had been ignored. 

Bra couldn't stand it anymore. Convinced that no amount of physical pain could be worse than this torture, she flopped down onto her stomach and lay there motionless in the dirt. 

She lay there for a few moments disturbed only by the continuous laughing of her fake father, but she was even now learning to block that out. The laughing eventually ebbed then stopped altogether. 

"Why don't you fight?" He asked her. "Are you afraid?"

Bra didn't answer. She was through giving up her energy. Polkrif would just have to kill her.

"Lord Polkrif, The saiyans will be within the planet's atmosphere in ten minutes." Arachne stated slightly distressed.

"You had better not be backing out now, Arachne!" Polkrif warned. "I need you in case something happens to my machine."

"My Lord. The girl has given up fighting. We'll get no more energy out of her."

Polkrif turned around scowling.

"Well don't just sit there, Arachne, Get her fighting again!"

"You're pathetic, you know?" The fake Vegeta said. "And you call yourself a saiyan."

Bra didn't answer, she didn't even move.

"You're weak. No better than an insect. I ought to kill you."

"Go ahead!" Bra spat without looking up at him. He kicked her side, sending her flying across the desert. Bra only moved to cough up some blood, then lay still again.

"You're only making this worse on yourself. Just give us that energy of yours and you won't feel so much pain."

"Bite me." Bra replied right to its face and rolled over. Again she was kicked, though not as hard as the last time. 

"Why are you being so stubborn?"

Bra coughed up more blood but made no other response to the fake Vegeta.

"You _will_ give Polkrif your energy, girl." He stated darkly and began a slow energy attack on her. Bra curled up in pain, the ebbing energy fields coursing through her were like strings of shredded steel. She stifled her cries, feeling as if she were being torn apart. In addition to the pain, she felt herself becoming gradually weaker. This attack was sucking the energy from her. 

__

Maybe this will kill me. She thought sleepily as she drifted ever closer to unconsciousness.

"What are you doing?" Polkrif asked as he watched the meters on his machine fall slightly. "You're loosing energy."

"It will be replenished." Arachne said. "I suggest we finish her now." 

"No." Polkrif replied. "She is far too effective a power source to destroy." 

Arachne heaved a weary sigh. "Wake up! I had to start sucking the power out of her, she refuses to give it to us anymore. That's why I had to expend energy we'd already collected."

"Heal her." Polkrif replied. "We'll devise another way of coaxing the energy out of her after her family has been dealt with."

Arachne growled apprehensively. "We don't have time to heal her! My Lord, I'm afraid that the limitations of my machine have become painfully obvious."

Polkrif stared at her unimpressed. "What did you tell me an hour ago, Arachne? How much power have we collected?"

"Exactly ten times that of when Recely transforms into a Golden Saiyan." Arachne replied. "But, I don't think that will be enough to defeat both Recely and her son."

"Don't think anymore, Arachne. Leave that to me." Polkrif replied then smiled wickedly. "Have they landed?"

"No." Arachne replied. "But they'll be in the planet's atmosphere any minute now."

Polkrif was already well across the room as she said this. He climbed some stairs to an elevated platform where a very simple control panel was set into the floor. It was made up of two large buttons, a rotating dial, and a digital energy meter. Behind him, the three energy filled cylinders sparked with a surplus of collected energy.

"Open the skylight, Arachne. It's time to negate this prophecy and be rid of the saiyans once and for all."

Vegeta and Recely both tried their best not to be too stunned as the descended from their ship. The entire planet, small though it was, was teeming with Bra's energy and it was all originating from one source, the only building erupting from the forest like a beacon of doom. Another stunning realization was that Vegeta remembered this planet. 

"This was one of Frieza's planets." Vegeta said to his mother. "I remember staying here. Polkrif must have taken it for himself after realizing it was abandoned."

Recely hummed thoughtfully. "We always suspected that some of Frieza's operatives had joined Polkrif."

"Hmph! Some of them probably didn't know what else to do with themselves after Frieza was destroyed." Vegeta agreed, knowing that he'd been one of them and was relieved that he had not known about Polkrif's organization. Back then he would've jumped at the chance to get off of earth and gain power somewhere else.

"And what of this energy?" Recely asked. "It can't be Bra. Its far too powerful."

Vegeta nodded grimly. "It's stagnant energy too." He looked at his mother seriously. "If it is added to the energy of an attack, it could take out this entire planet, you and me included in an instant."

Recely's eyes went wide. "You're not serious. She couldn't possibly be more powerful than you, a Super Saiyan of thirty years. Bra told me she can't even transform. How could she have gained enough energy to destroy you in less than two weeks?"

"I am convinced that Bra has not gained any energy at all. Rather, Polkrif must have devised a way to harness energy from her."

"You mean he can do what Bra can do? He too has the power to draw energy naturally from living things?" 

"I don't know." Vegeta replied. "If he could do that, you'd think that he'd've come himself long ago, destroyed us all and not risked a battle." There was a lengthy pause as both contemplated this. Then Vegeta abruptly transformed into Super Saiyan. "It doesn't matter. I must find out what's happened to Bra, and the only way to do that is to confront Polkrif." Recely nodded and powered up, but didn't try and force herself to transform at that time, hoping to save that energy for when she needed it. They took to the air and speeded towards the building just in time to see the skylight start to open. They soon were able to make out the machine with its sparking energy cylinders and aiming laser. The energy did not intensify, leaving the two saiyans a clear path right into the laboratory itself.

They both levitated , face to face with Polkrif on the elevated platform. The laser head followed their direction, maintaining its aim on them.

"Where is my daughter?" Vegeta demanded just as Polkrif was about to greet them.

"She's fine. We've taken good care of her." Polkrif replied with a devilish smile.

"You've taken her energy!" Vegeta snarled. "Where is she now?" Bra was not visible in the Lab anywhere.

"She's in the machine." Polkrif gestured to where Arachne was sitting, smiling down at the scene. "I believe you've already met Arachne." 

Vegeta snarled recognizing her now that Polkrif had told him her name. "I was sure I'd killed you."

"Yeah, well you always were particularly inefficient, Vegeta." Arachne smiled. "Frieza always complained that you saiyans never did anything right."

"You obviously had help in surviving." Vegeta replied, more interested in that story than tired old insults. He noticed the mechanical parts that had replaced most of her body. "Who would help someone as disgusting as you? Everyone seemed quite pleased when they thought I had killed you."

Arachne laughed. Polkrif snorted at her newfound bravery. 

"Who do you think made those bio-mechanical parts that prolonged Frieza's life for an entire week?" Arachne laughed. Then she grew serious. "I will be quite pleased to see you die, Vegeta, after what you did to me!" She said clenching all of her mechanical fists.

"After what _I_ did to _you_?" Vegeta spat under his breath. He didn't continue and stared murderously at her. It was quite a different glare, like he gave none of his other opponents in his past, except for maybe Goku. Vegeta truly hated Arachne.

Arachne chuckled at this reaction. "Of course, I probably deserved it didn't I? I had done it to so many of Frieza's little protégés. He was quite angry that I had done it to you. The only reason why he didn't kill me was because I was developing all his technology. I just couldn't resist an unsuspecting little whelp, all full of himself, and you had arrogance that rivaled the entire base. Being a prince only added to the attraction, I'd never done it to a Prince before. It's unfortunate that pansy Zarbon came and interrupted..."

"Vegeta, what is she talking about?" Recely asked.

Vegeta spat hastily. "She just tormented me, that's all." 

"That's not all, Prince." Arachne replied. "Too embarrassed to tell your mother what I did to you?" She laughed. "I don't blame you. Being molested and almost raped would be embarrassing to anyone, let alone to a mighty Saiyan Prince."

Enraged at that admission, Recely flung herself at Arachne at full power. Arachne pulled out her energy gun, which she'd concealed well behind her back with one of her arms, and fired. It hit Recely dead on, but too angry to care about the pain, she landed on all fours then followed Arachne as she flew out of the lab through the skylight.

Polkrif looked after his minion, displeased, but Vegeta was quite happy with the way it turned out. Arachne, once powerful enough to subdue him, had resorted to using artificial power, a sure sign that she was outclassed. And Polkrif, hiding behind his machine and his daughter's power was admitting the same thing.

Still too worried to gloat, Vegeta confronted Polkrif. "Is my child alive?" 

Polkrif smirked. "Why, yes. She's the battery to Arachne's machine."

"Get her out of there now and your death will be quick and painless." Vegeta said.

"I'm afraid I can't do that." Polkrif replied.

Vegeta snarled and powered up. "Have it your way. I'll get her myself after I've finished torturing you!" He went to fire a ki blast at him, but was shot himself before he could let it loose. He yelled angrily after his jaw smashed against the steel floor. He got up, wiping blood from his chin. He looked up to see the laser aimed directly at him.

"Hmph!" Vegeta scoffed unimpressed and went to fire again. 

"FUCK!" Vegeta swore as his arm smoked from the blast he hadn't dodged completely. The laser could detect when he was going to release an attack, and fired so quickly that it disabled him. Vegeta shook off his anger at that, and continued in a calm manner.

"No matter." Vegeta said to Polkrif. "I've had to fight without ki before, it is not a disadvantage to a _real_ warrior." With that, he lunged at his opponent. Before he could hit him though, he felt a very peculiar field of energy surrounding them both, he was then hit by a massive beam of energy and pinned against a titanium wall. 

Vegeta yelled as he struggled to free himself. Finally he managed it and before the ray could stop its beam, he fired up at the laser. The laser almost didn't stop the destructive blast, but unfortunately managed it at the last second.

Vegeta hyperventilated in rage. He was faring badly. He could not lose this battle!

Polkrif tisked from his platform, "My, my, that was a close one. In interest of my little powerhouse, I must mention that she has become part of my machine. She cannot survive away from it. Any damage to it, will damage her. So, you may want to keep that in mind if you foolishly decide to continue. Or, being a generous opponent, I will offer you the choice to surrender, " then Polkrif laughed tauntingly, " and a quick and painless death." 

Vegeta's teeth were clenched. That was the worst thing that he could've possibly told him. His trained warrior mind instantly suggested the possibility of Polkrif bluffing. But he just couldn't chance that. He looked around. The machine was massive, any stray energy from that laser could strike it. If only he could get the fight outside in the air.

Deciding that that was exactly what needed to be done, he leapt from the floor and sped as fast as he could towards the open skylight.

An energy field was created over the opening and he flew right into it, like a bird flying into a window. He dropped from the air like a stone, stunned, and landed on his back.

"You're as stubborn as that daughter of yours." Polkrif stated. Vegeta growled angrily at the thought of her, how he was absolutely no use to her whatsoever. "You're her father. I know you have only her best interest in mind or you wouldn't be here fighting as valiantly as you are. But face it, Vegeta, you haven't been able to hurt me in the least. It is plainly obvious who the victor will be. So, why don't you do what's right for your little girl and give your life to preserve hers?"

"Life as part of that machine?" Vegeta said from where he lay on the floor. "What kind of life is that, living only to be the source of your energy? She wouldn't want her energy used to kill people! She'd be better off dead!" He was barely able to choke the last part of his sentence out. He'd made his decision and before he could change his mind, he sat bolt upright and shot a ki blast directly at Arachne's control panel. 

"No!" Polkrif yelled, just as the machine fired. Polkrif leapt into the air and fired at both blasts, deflecting them into the wall of the lab, leaving a smoking crater. Simultaneously, Vegeta fired at Polkrif, but the laser was fast as well as accurate. The Prince was blasted halfway across the room, Polkrif was left virtualy unscathed. He panted, nearly exhausted from what would have been a simple attack from Vegeta. 

Vegeta pulled himself to his feet, and Polkrif, summoning up enough energy, flew back to the safety of his platform.

"I should have known not to offer a choice to a saiyan. I forgot your vile race has no love for their offspring."

Vegeta cursed th elost opportunity to kill Polkrif. The laser had to go. 

"No." vegeta replied. "I love my children more that anything else in this universe."

"That's touching." Polkrif stated. "Can I just kill you already?" Polkrif went to turn up the dial of the energy blaster intent on making sure the next blast would incinerate the Prince. But to his horror, the meters were almost to the bottom of the screen. Polkrif was nearly out of power. He looked back at Vegeta. He was still golden hared, and very much still a threat. 

"Any blast you fire risks hitting this machine of yours." Vegeta said. "You don't want to lose your machine and I don't want to lose my daughter. So, this is my final proposal, Polkrif. Release my daughter and allow her and my mother to leave this planet, and I will willingly take her place." 

Polkrif stared poker faced at him, one eye on his digital power dials.

"Bra is nowhere near as powerful as I. Think of the energy you can take from me."

Polkrif looked back at him. Vegeta's heart jumped, he was falling for it. Of course, he had no intention of handing himself over willingly, but as soon as Polkrif shut down his machine to remove Bra, he would destroy him. He stared at his adversary, concentrating on not getting himself too excited by the prolonged silence that could only indicate intense consideration. Vegeta could barely manage to hide his smirk of victory, he knew too well the appeal of large sums of easy power. And Vegeta was sure that Polkrif had a limit on his collected reserves.

"No." Polkrif replied cautiously. Vegeta's eyebrows arced into a vicious scowl and he snarled. How could he refuse? "I'll have you both."

"What?" Vegeta said. Then tried to move too late as a huge amount of energy hit him, pinning him to the ground. On his control panel, Polkrif pressed the huge blue button, sending additional energy down on the struggling, angry Prince. Vegeta yelled out in alarm as he felt strings of energy pass through his body. He felt as if fire were coiling about his insides and to further his distress, he was getting weaker. Desperate to stop this before he was too exhausted to do anything, he expelled as much energy as he could, but it disappeared as quickly as he created it.

Polkrif smiled as his meters shot up from the bottom of the screen at a tremendous rate. He watched as Vegeta's struggles became weaker and his screams of outrage diminished into painful grunts of defeat. Polkrif began to chuckle, then laugh at his victory.


	18. Transformation

****

The Princess

Chapter 18: Transformation

By: senzubean

I do not own Dragon Ball Z in any way. I make no profit from this story. I just wrote it for fun.

Outside, Recely was stalking through the forest, trying to locate her quarry. Arachne, having made up for her lack of power with speed, concealed herself somewhere within the massive trees. Suddenly, Recely leapt out of the way, letting the power blast hit the ground instead of her.

"Give it up, Saiyan. You can't win." Arachne hissed from somewhere above.

"Can't I?" Recely replied. "If you have nothing to fear then why are you hiding?"

"Sadly, I myself cannot defeat you but..." 

"Well that was obvious." Recely interrupted what was sure to be a lengthy rant.. 

"Polkrif will be through with your son soon. Then he'll set his machine on you!"

"We'll see." Recely replied unconcerned. "I'll still have you dead before then."

Arachne fired again, this time hitting Recely's arm. She hissed in pain briefly, but her shoulder was not too damaged. Recely concentrated hard, then fired at a tree to her left. Arachne screeched and plummeted to the ground.

When Recely found her, she was crawling towards her blaster, several of her metal arms broken off and her chest metal scorched. Recely kicked the weapon away and stood over her. Arachne let out a ki blast of her own, but Recely knocked it away effortlessly.

"You'll never win! That machine has ten times the power you have when you make yourself gold!"

"Really?" Recely replied feigning being impressed. "A saiyan gains that much energy when transforming to an oozaru. So theoretically, if I do two transformations, I will be the victor." She continued, ending with a smirk.

Arachne hissed at her. " I'm not with Polkrif! He forced me to make that machine, I swear! He threatened to kill me! You understand, he made me his servant just like Frieza made a servant out of your son!"

Recely shook her head sadly. "You are a conniving one aren't you?" She crouched down . "I normally spare the lives of underlings and bring them in for trial." Recely replied much to Arachne's relief.

"Thank you." Arachne said.

"But I'm making an exception in your case." Recely replied.

"What?" 

"You should have kept your hands off my son."

Arachne tried to protest, but Recely blasted her into oblivion before listening to any of it.

Bra wasn't quite unconscious. Her opponent, for once, had stopped attacking her and was now standing stiff as a board. He stared down at her with a blank expression in his eyes. Bra pushed herself up very slowly, trying to shake off the fuzziness in her mind. She expected her fake father to react to her movement, but it remained still. Apprehensively, she waited for something to happen. After what seemed like several hours, Bra concluded that she was alone, for now.

She brought her knees up to her chest. She was still in pain, but it wasn't as bad as having to deal with Polkrif's creatures. Again she looked up at the blank faced attacker and felt an overwhelming desire to kick it, but she dared no fearing it would re-awaken.

"I wonder how long Polkrif will keep me here?" The thought of growing old in that place, fighting everyday of her life, experiencing so much pain, was too much. Not knowing what else she could possibly do to help herself, she cried.

"I want to go home." 

And as if that had been a prayer, an answer came.

Bra felt it all at once. It was faint but it was definitely real. It was her father's energy. Her ki sense picked it up and it instantly warmed her.

"Daddy." Bra whimpered and looked up fearfully at the fake Vegeta. It was still silent and stiff. The feeling gradually became warmer and stronger. "Daddy, where are you?" Bra wailed into the void, standing up, hoping that her father was in this place with her and would rescue her.

"DADDY!" She screamed at the top of her lungs several times. His ki still became stronger at a slow pace. If he had heard her, he wasn't in any rush to get to her.

"Maybe he's not in here." Bra mumbled disappointedly. She closed her eyes and concentrated on his ki for comfort. It felt so warm and reassuring. She let it envelop her as if it were as precious as the smell of a wet spring morning, so very nice, but temporary. Once it was gone a person would have to wait a long time for it to come back. Bra was afraid if she lost sense of her father's ki she would never feel it again. That thought was more unbearable to her than the thought of remaining in that horrid place for all eternity. The ki became stronger and Bra felt the strangest sensation. She thought that maybe she'd be able to touch it, grab hold and keep it with her. The rational part of her mind told her that that was ridiculous, you couldn't touch or take hold of ki. 

__

Not physically, but with my own ki I could.

Bra was even more surprised by that thought. That was just as silly. But having no better ideas she tried it. Knowing she didn't have much ki left, she very carefully released a small amount. She let her ki out to reach her fathers. Amazingly, her ki did grab hold of it and brought it to her.

__

This..is wonderful. Bra thought joyfully. The sensation was like nothing she had felt before. It sent shudders down her spine, warm, gentle shudders. She didn't feel any pain any more. 

__

Maybe I'm dying. Bra wondered. Then decided against it as she felt more energy than she had ever felt before surging through her veins. Consciously, she reached out for more of this heaven-sent energy, but her relief was soon tainted by the sound of her father's agonized screams off in the distance.

"Dad!" Bra exclaimed, her eyes opening wide. The desert was contorting and fading in and out of her vision.

"What's going on?" She said panicked. She backed up a step, bumping into her fake father. Bra gasped as she watched it collide heavily to the ground. Certain it would awaken and start attacking her, she braced herself for the worst. Luckily the statue-like Vegeta remained in the exact same position as he had been while standing up. Bra exhaled in utter relief, only to be sent into turmoil again at the sound of her father fading away, his yells settling into angry grunts.

"DAD, WHERE ARE YOU?!" Bra wailed and levitated high into the fast fading void. She looked out into the blackness, seeing nothing, but hearing a very familiar laughter as clear as day.

"Polkrif." Bra growled, feeling her power rise. 

"You should have taken my offer, Prince." Polkrif stated as he advanced on the now very helpless Vegeta. The energy beam was still pinning him but the blue coils had stopped their attack. 

"I'm afraid I can't keep _you_ as a battery. Although, it certainly would be more convenient. That little Saiyan Princess will just have to do. No, I can't chance you somehow cleverly finding your way out of my little machine. "

Off in the void, Bra could hear every word Polkrif had spoke.

"A machine.?" Bra stated and looked around, now hovering in complete blackness, the ground and her fake father now gone. Bra listened again, hoping that Polkrif would give some clues on just how she could get out.

"It's a marvelous device Arachne created, isn't it? Your daughter's body is in chryo stasis. That machine breathes for her and purges her body of toxic buildup. Basically, it keeps her alive and well, all the while infusing her mind with a world carefully created by myself and Arachne. This illusion of a world is populated with adversaries such as that notorious Frieza." Polkrif chuckled, pleased with himself. "Even you fight her there, and she fights back. While the world and its inhabitants aren't real, the power she expels is very real, as is the power used to coax that power out of her. She fights until she's exhausted, we heal her then we start the process all over again. She will spend the rest of her entire life in that machine and not even know it. Originally we planned to use your mother for the battery, but after I discovered that a true Saiyan Princess did exist, I decided to turn a prophecy back on itself. She's quite the little warrior that girl. And you can't do anything to help her. I've won. I've now taken your place as the most powerful being in this universe, Vegeta. And with your daughter completely under my control, supplying my power, there's nothing I can't have. Do you know what the first thing I'm going to do is? I'm going to do what Frieza failed so miserably at, and purge this universe of all you wretched Saiyans, starting with you! How ironic that you will die by your own power." Polkrif said, and cackled jovially.

"No." Bra said in a mere whisper. Her father's ki fell almost out of her sensing ability.

"NO!"

Polkrif was still laughing, believing that not a thing could stop him now. As soon as he turned up that energy dial, the machine, filled to the brim with Vegeta's energy, would pulverize its donor into nothingness.

His hand came to a halt just inches from the dial, his fingers stretched out to take hold of it...

BOOM

The lab shook with the force of a giant blast, water and debris pelted both the prone Vegeta and Polkrif.

"WHAT?" Polkrif screamed. "THIS CAN'T BE!"

Vegeta couldn't see what was going on from under the energy beam, but by the tone of Polkrif's voice, he was pretty sure it was in his favor.

Bra was hovering in mid air in front of what used to be Arachne's control panel. She was soaked, having been completely immersed in some chemically infused liquid. Bits of cords, once used to suck her energy, hung in melted shreds from her skin.

"HOW DID YOU GET OUT OF THERE?" Polkrif demanded.

Vegeta knew that that sentence could only mean one thing.

"Bra!" He yelled.

Bra, who had been staring holes right through Polkrif, was startled into looking in the direction of Vegeta's voice. He couldn't see her, but she could see him, pinned to the floor with his hair black, not the gold of the Super Saiyan.

She returned her attention to Polkrif.

"Let my father go, now." She ordered.

Polkrif sneered at her, utterly enraged that she'd managed to get free and destroyed half his machine. Luckily for Polkrif, the blast had not damaged the cylinders or the controls to the laser. He lowered his hand the inch needed to touch the dial and twisted it up to full power. 

Bra was in front of the beam in an instant. She blocked it and with a massive burst of her own energy, sent it back to its source. The laser exploded into a million pieces.

Polkrif was speechless at this. "H.how could this have happened?"

Vegeta pulled himself. to a sitting position just as Bra landed beside him. He looked up at her agape.

"Bra...

Bra smiled down at him, tears falling freely from her green eyes.Green, not blue. Her hair reached towards the skylight in golden waves.

"Are you all right?" Bra asked her still floored father. Vegeta was still too speechless to answer her.

"YOU DAMNED SAIYANS! YOU PROBABLY THINK YOU'VE WON, DON'T YOU? DO YOU SUPPOSE I WAS STUPID ENOUGH TO NOT CREATE SAFEGUARDS? YOU CAN KISS YOURSELVES, AS WELL AS THIS ENTIRE PLANET GOODBYE!" Polkrif screamed at them, then started laughing insanely as he slammed his palm down on the second button on his control panel. The canisters shook violently and the massive steel rims holding them upright started to crack.

Vegeta was on his feet now. Polkrif was running as fast as he could across the laboratory.

"Bra!" Vegeta yelled over the rumbling and grabbing her arm. "We have to get out of here now!" The cylinders were obviously going to blow, and there was enough energy in them to take out several planets. 

"What if there are other people on this planet?" Bra protested. "We can't leave them to die!"

"We'll be lucky to save ourselves, now move it!" He yelled and tugged on her arm. Effortlessly, Bra removed herself from his grasp and ran to the cylinders. 

"GET AWAY FROM THERE!" Vegeta screamed as he watched Bra put one hand each on two of the cylinders.

Bra concentrated on the trapped energy inside. It was a mixture of hers and her fathers, she focused on her fathers there being much more of his and , like in the void, reached out to grasp it. Vegeta watched as the canisters slowly began to settle, the third however still rattled and vibrated violently. He realized that she was using her power to draw the energy into herself, so that it would not be fired against the planet. Knowing he couldn't just leave her there alone and knowing it was their best chance of survival now, Vegeta let her continue. Then he chose another task.

He ran as fast as he could in the direction Polkrif had fled. He went through ajar doors to see Polkrif fumbling with the controls of a spaceship, his back turned to the door. Vegeta walked up to him, his footfalls drowned out by the noises coming from the lab. Polkrif must've sensed something behind him, because he turned his head. Finding Vegeta a mere foot away, his mouth dropped to allow a yell that never got past his throat. With a swift side chop, Vegeta took Polkrif's head clean off his shoulders.

He watched until the head stopped rolling, then spit on the shocked face.

Vegeta returned to the lab, just as Bra collapsed to the floor. The two cylinders she'd been draining were harmless now, but she hadn't even started on the third, which was still enough to destroy the planet.

Vegeta didn't care about that. He ran to Bra, picking her up off the floor. She slipped from Super Saiyan and her ki plummeted into near non existence.

"NO! GOD NO!" Vegeta bellowed and shook her. "Bra! Wake up!" 

Bra did not respond. He pulled her to his chest, devastated that he'd gotten her back only to lose her. Then he looked up at the shaking cylinder threatening to explode at any second. 

__

Bra's not dead yet. Vegeta reminded himself. _I have got to get her out of here._

It took nearly everything Vegeta had left to fly. He forced himself to go as fast as he could through the skylight and outside, ignoring his protesting muscles and his dizzy head. He had to get his family to safety and he hoped that his mother would not be difficult to find.

"Vegeta!" Recely yelled as she approached them in the air. A wave of relief washed over Vegeta, at least one thing had gone right that day. She was instantly at his side, helping him to support himself.

"Is Bra alive?" She asked.

"Barely." Vegeta said. "We'll all be dead if we don't get out of here now!"

Recely reached into her armor and pulled out a small control device. She pressed a few buttons with her thumb and seconds later, Letta had their ship off the ground, waiting in the air to take off. Recely flew as fast as she could, pulling her son and granddaughter along with her.

"Polkrif must've pulled some nasty tricks to do this to you, Vegeta."

Vegeta grunted. "Technology can be a nasty thing."

"I doubt that Letta or Bulma would agree." Recely replied. Vegeta couldn't help but smile.

Less than ten minutes later, they were in orbit, just in time to see the planet explode and far enough away that they weren't in any danger of flying debris.

"She wanted so bad to save it." Vegeta said with a barely noticeable hint of sadness in his voice. He stared out at the now empty space where the planet had been. Another dark hole in the universe. 

"She tried her best." Recely reassured him.

"She certainly did." Vegeta agreed. "If it hadn't have been for her, I would be dead right now."

Recely hugged him, and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I would rather be dead than her." He added.

"But she's not dead, Dearest. I'm sure she'll recover."

Vegeta shook his head. "I don't know. This happened before.. her ki fluctuating. What if she was just lucky the last time? She sucked up a lot more power from that machine than she did from that boy. What if...what if it was too much for her?"

"But she's a Super Saiyan now." Recely reminded him.

"That means nothing." Vegeta said quietly. 

Recely ran her hand through his hair comfortingly.

"Things will work out, I know they will."

Letta came out of the sleeping quarters onto the bridge.

"What do you think?" Recely asked her. Letta having spent years administering first aid to battle worn saiyans had a knack for assessing injuries.

"I wish I could say something other than what you already know." Letta replied. Vegeta's face fell, that's not what he wanted to hear. 

"I cleaned her up a bit." Letta replied. "She's in Sala's quarters, Vegeta. I made a bed on the floor so you can be there when she wakes up."

"Thanks Letta," Vegeta said as he walked towards the room. He stopped beside her and added. "For everything. We couldn't have gotten her back if it wasn't for your help." Vegeta said as he continued on to the room. 

Hesitantly, Vegeta went into the room where his child lay lifeless save for abruptly rising and falling ki. Vegeta looked at her for a few minutes, then said. 

"If you die, I will never be happy again Bra-chan."

He then settled down on the bed Letta made for him on the floor beside her and fell into a deep sleep.


	19. Strange Messages

****

The Princess

Chapter 19: Strange Messages

By: senzubean

I do not own Dragon Ball Z in any way. I make no profit from this story. I just wrote it for fun.

Vegeta woke up with a start. He was standing in a tropical rain forest.

"What the hell?" He said as he scanned the surroundings. "How did I get here?" he continued disgustedly.

There was a clearing in the trees in front of him. Intent on figuring out why he was here and not with his daughter, he walked towards them hoping to find a town with people to whom he could complain. 

Just as he was about to reach the sunlit open space, he was overtaken by what seemed like thousands of ape faced warriors. They were all brandishing archaic spears and crossbows. Vegeta was not impressed, especially when they blocked his way. He pushed past them, noticing that they all looked to be the same species as that Polkrif guy. Suddenly they all started yelling and drawing their weapons. Vegeta soon saw what they were so very upset at. A large, golden oozaru stood roaring above them, its voice bearly distinguishable from the screams of the army.

"Losers." Vegeta spat. It was only an oozaru. He was stronger than that thing and they didn't even care that he was standing among them. He watched it, admitting that a golden oozaru was impressive. But there was only one person who _could_ become a golden oozaru now. And he was pretty sure it wasn't his mother.

"It couldn't be Kakarrot though ." Vegeta mumbled. He, along with Pan, were the only two people who knew that Kakarrot had given himself to the dragon and would never come back. 

Finally he was in the front lines of the army and saw the first thing that did surprise him.

"Bra!" He yelled at his daughter who was standing only a few feet away from that oozaru. What was worse was that oozaru had noticed her and was reaching its massive hand down to grab her. He would have thought that Bra would either move or scream, or both, but she remained there silent, staring up at it.

"Bra!" Vegeta yelled as he ran to her, trying to get her attention. "Get away from it!"

The beast was almost within reach of her. 

"MOVE!" Vegeta bellowed as loud as he could, still too far away to help her. He'd been trying to transform into a super saiyan , but for some reason his body was not listening, and he was unable to fly or move at super speed either.Vegeta watched in horror as the oozaru's hand coiled around her. Sure she'd be crushed, he stopped running and closed his eyes.

No sickening sounds of his daughters bones crushing were heard. Vegeta cautiously opened his eyes and saw that Bra was still alive. The creature had only cupped it's fingers around her just close enough so that Bra could touch it's palm. She was absorbing energy from it. The massive beast shrank gradually as Bra used her power. When it was the same size as Bra, she transformed to Super Saiyan. Her hair, instead of standing up straight and firm, waved like long serpents in the air. Then , instead of an oozaru standing before her, there was another girl. Like Bra, she too was a super saiyan with waving hair. But unlike Bra, she was a full blooded saiyan, dressed in old armor Vegeta could remember seeing in paintings on the palace walls, her golden tail coiled around her waist. The girl turned and walked straight through the closed stone doors in front of her, the royal crest chiseled out on the arch above.

Bra remained still, staring at the door.

"That...was weird." Vegeta mumbled. Then went to join his daughter when he felt a thump on the middle of his back. He looked over his shoulder and saw half a spear protruding from his shirt, he found the other half sticking out of his chest in front. Blood oozed from the wound, but he felt no pain. Spears and arrows whizzed all around him, aimed at Bra, who was now facing the army, and was looking very terrified.

Vegeta tried to move to help her, but as he went to run, he fell on his side and was unable to push himself back up.

"Bra!" He yelled at her, unable to see if weapons were hitting their mark.

Vegeta sat bolt upright. The forest and the army had disappeared, he was now back on his mother's ship. He quickly realized that the room was filled with a tremendous amount of ki. He looked over to the bed, where Bra was standing with her back pressed against the wall. Her eyes were wide and terrified and she was transformed. Her hair waving like serpents.

"Bra." Vegeta said carefully. She didn't look as if she was in control of herself and the attack of a super saiyan could easily destroy the ship.

That one word was all it took to bring Bra back to reality. Her large green pupils darted in his direction.

"Daddy.." She said, her voice quivering. Her knees buckled beneath her and as she fell to the mattress, her hair fell back around her shoulders, the gold faded into blue. Then she burst out into hysterical crying,

Vegeta leapt off the floor and onto the bed. He collected her in his arms and held her firmly against him. His own tears fell into her hair. Bra looked up at him and saw then streaming down his cheeks.

"W...why are y..you crying?" She asked.

"I thought I'd lost you." Vegeta replied. "I love you so much." 

"I love you too." Bra replied then rested her head on his chest. 

Vegeta stroked her hair, happier than he'd ever been in his life. His beloved daughter was fine and what was more, she was a warrior. And it was when Vegeta made that admission that he'd realized that he'd still lost something.

Nine days later, they landed back at Capsule Corp. It was three in the morning, but everyone was wide awake and out in the yard as the travelers descended the gangplank.

Bulma had run right out the back door and didn't stop until she had Bra wrapped in her arms, nearly knocking the smaller girl over.

She spent the next ten minutes crying hysterically and telling Bra over and over how much she loved her and how worried she was. In the meantime Bra's skin was taking on a bluish tinge, Bulma was squeezing her too tight.

"She won't be alive for much longer if you don't ease up." Vegeta said to Bulma.

Bulma shot him an icy glare of death. Vegeta looked back puzzled, for the first time since they'd met, he had not deserved that.

Bulma then proceeded to thank Recely and Letta over and over again, then pulled Bra into the house, where everyone fought over who was going to talk to her first. Vegeta, who had done a great deal of the real work, was left alone and forgotten in the yard. 

"Everyone's excited to have her back."

"Hmph!"

Recely joined her son in the yard and smiled at him.

"Vegeta, are you jealous?"

Vegeta made a face. "Of course not. That's just silly."

"You're definitely put off by something." Recely said. "I could always tell when something was bothering you."

Not wanting to tell her the real reason he was 'put off' he searched his mind for something that would do in its stead. The strange dream he had popped into his mind, and wouldn't leave when Vegeta tried to think of something else. Giving up he said:

"I had this dream just before Bra woke up. I tried to dismiss it, but it was just too strange." Indeed it was strange, but Vegeta wanted to dismiss it as being stupid.

"Really, what happened?" 

Vegeta explained, a little embarrassed, about the warriors that looked like Polkrif, the Oozaru and Bra. He wished now that he'd just admitted the truth. To his dismay, Recely's eyes went slightly wider.

"How strange." Recely said.

"What?" Vegeta asked.

"Well, Bra told me that she had a dream identical to yours. She said she'd had it before."

"I've only had it once." Vegeta replied, very creeped out by that. "Identical?" He asked.

Recely nodded. "Maybe you should discuss it with her."

Vegeta decided that he would, but only after things settled down a bit.

"That planet we went to was awesome." Trunks exclaimed the next day to his sister. He and Bra were lounging in the living room in front of the television when Vegeta entered from his bedroom.

"The place we took those assassins was huge, I'd say it was over 100 stories. And there were , like, hundreds of warriors swarming in that one building alone. Sala said that it's because there's so many dangerous criminals kept there. If there were ever a prison break, the city would be in major trouble. Oh! And the floors moved by themselves and there were flying cars..."

"We have flying cars here." Bra interrupted.

"These flying cars were much cooler, they went way faster. And Sala said that they haven't figured out how to capsulize stuff anywhere else. Grandpa created something totally original in the entire known universe."

"Cool." Bra agreed somewhat reserved.

"Yeah! So I was thinking that it might be an idea to expand Capsule Corp. into the intergalactic market place."

Vegeta laughed at that. "You can barely manage being the President of one company. How will you manage hundreds?"

Trunks looked at him unimpressed, then turned back to Bra.

"Mom told me to make a business plan and she said she'd look into acquiring some alien crafts to test..." Trunks went on, completely ignoring his father's comment. 

Vegeta walked into the kitchen just as his wife was walking out. She smiled at him, no longer angry with him for no reason. He started making himself a sandwich, all the while listening to the conversation in the living room.

"Listen missy, if you don't catch up on all the work you missed you won't pass grade 11. You want to graduate next year with all your friends don't you?" Bulma said to Bra.

"Yeah." Bra replied innocently.

"Well, get busy!"

"I was doing it until Trunks came in and started bothering me."

"You can't do your homework in front of the TV anyway. Go and do it in your room."

"But my desk is too messy."

"I don't have time to get into that now." Bulma replied. "I'm taking your grandmother and aunts shopping, I want to see how much you've gotten done when I get back. And if I'm not satisfied with your progress I'll sent you to Chi Chi."

"All right!" Bra replied none to pleased about being scolded and excluded from a shopping trip. Reluctantly she started to pack up the mess of schoolwork spread out all over the living room. Trunks helped, he picked up a scribbler and a page fell out on the floor. He picked it up and examined it.

"You better get rid of all the pages like this before Mom looks at your notes."

Bra snatched it out of his hand, crumpled it up and shoved it into her bag.

"Geeze Bra! I was only trying to help."

"Thanks." Bra said dryly. Vegeta walked into the room, trying to balance three plates filled with massive sandwiches and a two liter bottle of coke. 

"Are you drawing those hearts all over the place again?" Vegeta demanded of Bra.

"No!" Bra replied exasperated. Vegeta sat down in his favorite chair and gave her a stern look. He was barely coming to terms with the fact his little girl was a warrior, he wasn't ready to deal with her seeking a mate.

"Good, because if I catch any _human_ boys in my territory..."

"Whatever, Dad." Bra replied angrily, grabbed her backpack and a pile of books, and stormed out of the room.

Vegeta waited until she heard her door shut firmly. Then he turned to Trunks. "What was on that paper?"

"Just some weird characters. I saw her reading 'Lord of the Rings' before she was kidnapped. It might be elvish."

Vegeta didn't understand that explanation, but as long as the paper did not have boys names enclosed in puffy hearts, he didn't care.

In her room, Bra pulled out her bottom dresser drawer all the way and removed a bag hidden underneath.. Taking it to her desk, she carefully removed its contents, then retrieved the crumpled piece of paper she'd shoved in her backpack. The bag contained a mass of papers, all with identical characters as that of the crumpled piece. Some of the other papers were yellowed and written in crayon, in the sloppy hand of a child. 

Bra had written all of them at various points in her life. The newest, the crumpled piece, she'd written just that afternoon. Uneasily she sorted through them, wondering if perhaps she should show someone. The one time someone had seen, it wasn't pleasant. 

Bra remembered that day with crystal clarity. Her fourth birthday had been two days before and she had just cracked open a brand new box of crayons. Quietly, she had been drawing pictures for a good hour and her father, suspicious of her quietness, had come to check on her. Of course, she insisted on showing him all of her pretty pictures. But Vegeta was only interested in one. It was one Bra didn't even remember drawing. Her paper was suddenly filled with ugly scribbles in black, so she'd discarded it on the floor. Disappointed that Vegeta only took interest in that one, going so far as to retrieve it form the carpet, Bra pouted. Abruptly, Vegeta started yelling at her, ordering her never to draw such pictures _ever_ again.

Unfortunately, Bra continued to subconsciously draw them. Snapping out of hypnotic states only to find full pages of scribbles. She'd ripped up most of the first ones, but being a smart little girl, soon realized that every time, her scribbles were exactly the same. Curiosity caused her to save them under her drawer. Eventually the drawings stopped. Since she was eight, she had been free of them, and she'd forgotten about her stash entirely. But ever since she had that first dream of the forest, the ape army, and the oozaru, she'd been drawing them again.

"They must mean something." Bra said, studying them. They characters were lined up neatly, arranged in varied sized groups with spaces between each group.

"It must be a language." Bra concluded. "And I bet that Daddy understood what it said."

Bra looked at the door. Curiosity ate at her, she wanted to know what these drawings that she'd been doing her entire life meant. But the last thing she wanted was Vegeta to get angry with her again. Her disrespectful behavior in the living room towards him probably put him in a sour mood.

She was saved the trouble of deciding as she heard a knock at the door. She was quite annoyed by who was there.

"Um, hi." Potay said, trying to make eye contact through the small crack Bra had opened.

"What do you want?" Bra demanded coldly.

Potay looked at the floor sheepishly and turned bright red in the face. He had been avoiding everyone since she and her father got home. He hadn't dared to cross Vegeta's path and he hadn't yet spoken to Bra.

"I wanted to apologize for what I did. You were right, I did know it was a mistake. It was mean and dumb and I'm really sorry."

There was a lengthy pause. "It was mean and dumb, and you're _really_ sorry." Bra snapped back.

Potay looked even more embarrassed.

"You have no idea what I went through, and if you did, you would understand that I _can't_ forgive you!" She shut the door quickly in his face. Potay heaved a hurtful sigh. He'd really wanted to make things right. He remained in the hall, staring at the door, until he decided that he _would _make things right.

"How dare you!" Bra exclaimed as Potay walked right in her room.

"Just be quiet for a second." Potay said hastily, hoping Vegeta hadn't heard her yell. Bra's jaw dropped and she was about to do the exact opposite of what he _ordered_, but Potay beat her to it.

"Look, I know I did a terrible thing. And I know that a simple apology will never make up for the pain I caused you. But the truth is Bra, that after you left I realized what I'd _lost_."

"Oh, _you_ lost something?" Bra spat, she couldn't believe the nerve of him.

"Yes." Potay replied firmly. " A friend."

Bra was startled by that. Potay continued.

"I thought about you a lot after you were taken. I realized how hard you had tried to be a friend to me, and I treated you like dirt." Potay said solemnly. He glanced up at Bra hopefully, who still glared back. Potay averted his gaze to the floor. "Anyway, I've always been so different from my other friends. I was just hoping I wouldn't lose my chance with you, but I guess I can't expect you to forgive me- so, I'll just go now." He concluded and made for the door.

"You know.." Bra started, halting him. "What happened was probably inevitable. I know I would have taken off sooner or later without your help. It wasn't all your fault." She looked up at Potay who was staring blank faced back.

"I just forgave you, dumb ass." Bra explained.

Potay smiled shyly. "Really? Um ... thank you."

Bra giggled at him, having to admit that he was kind of cute now that she had decided to put her feelings of hatred aside.

"Well, it looks like you'll be living here from now on, so we should probably get along." Bra added.

"Right." Potay replied. The two remained where they were. Potay shyly looked around the room, but wasn't sure if he should leave or stay. Bra tried not to stare to hard at Potay's very attractive physique, and looked around aimlessly.

"What's this?" Potay asked. Before Bra could determine what Potay was referring to, he had already crossed the room and picked up one of her drawings.

"That's nothing!" Bra replied. Potay looked it over, then looked at her skeptically.

"Did you write this?"

"No.. I mean...well..technically..."

"Nice imagination you've got there. But rhymes are so overrated when it comes to poetry." Potay said and sat down on the carpet beside Bra. "So, your Dad actually sat down and taught you this?" 

"What?" Bra asked bewildered.

"Saiyan." Potay replied mockingly.

Bra took the page from him," This... is Saiyan?"

"Yeah." Potay replied. "Quit fooling, did you write it or not?"

Bra looked at her paper. So it was a language, and no wonder her father was freaked out. He was the only one who could have possibly taught her how to write saiyan.

"Potay," Bra said seriously. "Dad never taught me how to do this."

Potay made a confused face. 

"I just did it by myself. I zone out and when I wake up I have a full page of this." She explained.

"You're kidding, right?"

"No!" 

Potay took the paper from her again. 

"Did you ever show your dad this?" 

"Once, and he totally freaked on me! I hid all the rest."

"Interesting." Potay replied absentmindedly as he read the paper again.

"What does it say?" 

Potay cleared his throat and began to recite.

"Among the trees of Granna, stands an oozaru of gold, 

Where Legumasa keeps power that only one can hold.

Many men will seek it, but it will not be found,

For it is destined to ensure the universe is sound.

Only she who holds the power can take it as her own,

The heir holds the key to gather power from the stone."

"Does that make sense to you?" Bra asked. 

"Sort of." Potay replied and began to explain. "Legumasa is a female form of the name Vegeta. Until recently, I had known Recely as Leguma. She changed her name so that she wouldn't be recognized as the Queen of the saiyans. Mom explained she chose Leguma as a tribute to her son. You're the _heir_ of Vegeta. Then there's mention of a golden oozaru-a direct reference to the legend of the super saiyan. Then it uses words like she and her, indicating, again, a female. And what's more, a female with special power. " Potay smiled. "This message was created for you and only you! Someone, is trying to tell you something."

"Who?" Bra asked.

Potay laughed excitedly. "I read somewhere once that certain people talk to the dead this way. They're called channelers." He held up the poem again. "I'd guess it's one of your ancestors. You're a direct descendant of Clan Vegeta, rulers of our people since the beginning of time. The first legendary Super Saiyan was alleged to be a member of your family."

"That's great." Bra replied dryly. "But it still doesn't explain what this ancestor wants from me."

"Weren't you listening?" Potay asked astonished." _'_..._ for it is destined to ensure the universe is sound_...' " He repeated the words of the poem. "That's pretty damned obvious."

"They want _me_ to protect the universe?" Bra said, looking at the writing she herself couldn't understand. "I think they chose the wrong girl." She said and gathered up all the papers with the intention on returning them to their hiding spot.

"I'm sure they have the right girl." Potay replied. "I doubt it's a good idea to question the voice of the supernatural. Look at that Prophecy..."

Bra glared at him. "Polkrif was an idiot. Someone else would have destroyed him if we failed."

"Yes, but the Prophecy said that you would do it."

Bra shut the drawer forcefully. " Dad killed him."

"Could he have done it without your help though?" Potay persisted.

Bra suppressed a growl, trying very hard not to spark an argument with her new friend.

"I don't mean to be rude or anything, but if I don't put a dint in all that homework, my mom is going to be majorly pissed."

Potay sighed gloomily. "I'll go."

"Thanks, I'll talk to you after supper." 

Potay got up and put a hand on the doorknob then turned back to her.

"You're not excited at all? I sure would be."

Bra gave him a warning glance.

"All right, all right." Potay replied and opened the door, only to slam it shut again. He ran across the room and stood behind Bra.

"Quit messing around! I mean it!" Bra exclaimed just before her father threw open the door.

"You!" He shouted at Potay. "Stop tormenting my daughter."

"I wasn't!" Potay protested. "Tell him!" He said to Bra, nudging her with his elbow.

Bra smiled, seeing an opportunity for a little amusement.

"You're bothering me now. I asked you very nicely to leave. " Bra stated and walked casually away from Potay, leaving him unprotected.

"Get out , boy!" Vegeta ordered standing off to the side of the door. Potay very reluctantly crossed the room babbling explanations all the way. Vegeta was uninterested in his excuses and he shoved Potay into the hall, then slammed the door shut as he left.

Bra ran to the door to listen to them continue.

"I'm really sorry for what I did, honest!" Potay continued frantically.

She could hear her father growling, and wondered if she should go and call him off. 

"Unfortunately, I can't hurt you out of respect for my friend!" Vegeta replied just as Bra was about to open the door.

"Could I go to my room now, please?" Potay asked very respectfully.

"You do that." Vegeta replied. Potay wasted no time and ran down the hall. "Stay away from my daughter!" Vegeta bellowed after him. Bra collapsed to her rear laughing.

"What was so damned funny about that?" Vegeta demanded through the door. He sounded especially cranky.

"Nothing , Dad. Thanks." Bra tried her best to say in a normal voice.

"Hmph!" Vegeta scoffed and went back to his own activities.


	20. Overprotective Father

****

The Princess

Chapter 20: Overprotective Father

By: senzubean

I do not own Dragon Ball Z in any way. I make no profit from this story. I just wrote it for fun.

Four weeks later, Bra looked over her final marks as she left the school, surprised she did so well. Straight A's, although only two of those A's were A+'s. Normally she would be very annoyed at not achieving perfection, she was truly her father's daughter. But considering she had crammed nearly two months of new school work she'd missed on top of the rest of that semesters work, she decided to be easy on herself. 

"Bra, wait up!" Pan yelled as she ran at a speed she should have been hiding from the _normal_ kids.

"So, how'd you do?" Pan asked anxiously.

Bra held up her report card for inspection.

"Awesome! I got about the same. This calls for a celebration!" Pan exclaimed as they reached the parking lot. Bra took off her backpack and removed a capsule case. Hoards of other teenagers were doing the same thing, releasing capsule vehicles.

"Actually Pan, I kinda made some plans. " Bra replied and released her fire red motorcycle. "I'll catch up with you later though."

"Guess I'll just fly home then." Pan replied gloomily and started to levitate in the air, ignoring the gasps of about fifteen spectators. Bra laughed at her recklessness. "Call me when you get home. And if you don't, I'm coming to find ya!" Pan warned and then took off, smiling over her shoulder.

Bra laughed as she secured her helmet, then took off in a more orthodox way.

She got home about quarter to ten at night, and she was in trouble.

"We were worried sick!" Bulma yelled.

"What were you doing for six hours?" Her father asked in a normal voice.

" What if you had gotten into an accident? No one would know where you were! You could have at least called!" Bulma continued yelling.

All the while, Bra reached into her bag and whipped out her report card.

"I got all A's." She announced while her mother paused to catch her breath.

"You did?" Bulma asked seriously then she beamed. "That's wonderful! Straight A's after all that! I'm so proud of you! You must be hungry, I'll go make you something." Bulma exclaimed and went into the kitchen boasting about how her children were both geniuses like her.

Bra heaved a sigh of relief sure she was free and clear.

"Nice move." Vegeta commented, looking at her sternly.

"Wasn't it?" Bra laughed. Her father wasn't appeased so easily.

"What were you doing for six hours?" Vegeta demanded again.

Bra looked at him straight in the face. "I lost track of time at the mall." 

"I'll give you one more chance to tell the truth." Vegeta replied.

Bra cursed inside. How could he always tell when she was lying? It didn't matter how insignificant the lie, he always knew and called her on it.

"I was looking for Kami's tower." Bra replied then looked at the floor.

Vegeta gaped, not expecting something strange like that.

"Why would you want to go to Kami's?" He asked.

"I don't know. To visit. I've never been there."

Vegeta glared at her. "Lie number two." 

Bra sighed. "I wanted to ask Dende the coordinates for Namek."

Vegeta finally understood.

"You didn't destroy those planets, Bra. Polkrif did." He said gently.

"He did it to lead you to me." Bra argued. 

"Still not your fault." Vegeta replied. Bra sat on the carpet and sighed.

"I just want to make it right."

"No one has the power to do that, even with the dragonballs. We've all ready learned that evil like that can't be abolished only transferred to something else. And I sure as hell don't want to confront those evil dragons again."

"I _want_ to try. Just this once!"

"No!"

"Why not, if we use the Name k dragonballs to wish it right..."

"Weren't you listening? We have no right to even go near that planet. If we start going now, then we'll be doing it whenever something terrible happens."

Bra jumped up and ran to her room unable to hold back her tears. Bulma entered the room, holding Bra's supper on a tray.

"Vegeta, " She said. "You have to help her get over that."

"She refuses to listen."

"Maybe you should listen to her. Is it so wrong what she wants to do? That evil was built up from years upon years of wishes. The Namek dragonballs have only been used a few times. A few wishes surely wouldn't hurt. What are they even there for if not to use?"

"It's not wrong." Vegeta agreed. "But you know the limitations of those Namekian dragon balls. She'd only be able to bring one person back with each wish. It just will not work."

Bulma turned her back. "Well maybe she needs to see that for herself, Vegeta. She's as stubborn as you and I know she won't be satisfied with a mere verbal explanation."

"I refuse to make a pointless strip to Namek just so that girl can be disappointed. She'll have to learn to deal with tragedy like everyone else."

"You mean like you?" Bulma asked. "Why not? Look how stable and well adjusted you turned out." She replied sarcastically.

"I didn't kill _you_, did I?" Vegeta spat right back. Bulma didn't answer and busied herself with trying to coax Bra into opening the door for her.

Bra woke up, lying in the grass. Above her was a blanket of stars. She turned her head and saw her father's gravity room shining under the glow of walk lamps. She heard a voice, chanting in a foreign language but she didn't see anyone.

Her head fell back to its original position. The voice, a male, was eerily soothing. She stargazed pleasantly, watching as one particular constellation became clearer. Mentally, she drew lines connecting the stars together, forming a mass of lines and dots. She couldn't make out a figure, she didn't know too many constellations anyway. One of the stars at the northernmost tip of the sky drawing glowed more intensely than the others. It slowly changed color to a brilliant red.

Bra's eyes popped open, her bedroom ceiling was above her, not stars. But a red glow slowly faded from her vision, as if the red star had been burned into her eye.

Yet another weird dream. But Bra was thankful that it contained no oozaru or armies. She looked over at her clock, it was three a.m.

Before she knew what she was doing, she was headed to her mother's lab. It was light inside. Letta was asleep, her head resting on a pile of mechanical drawings. Bra went right over to the telescope, one of the most powerful in the world, and opened the skylight. 

Bra searched through the database her grandfather had created. She had zeroed in on her dreams constellation almost immediately through the scope, but wasn't having as much luck locating it in the computer.

"Watch' ya doing?" Letta asked sleepily, surprising Bra.

"Looking for information on this constellation." Bra replied. Letta took a look at it.

"It looks like it's in the 98th quadrant, near the Tremna system." Letta said. She went to the computer and typed in some data. 

"There you go." Letta replied. 

"Thanks! " Bra exclaimed, amazed that Letta could do that. There wasn't much useful information, although there were coordinates for the constellation in general.

"Letta," Bra asked. "Is there any way you can determine the exact coordinates for this star here?" Bra asked and pointed to the star that had glowed red in her dream.

Letta stared at the screen.

"0, 47, 6" she replied, having calculated it in her head.

" You're amazing!" Bra exclaimed in astonishment.

"It just comes with practice." Letta replied modestly.

"Could that be a planet?" Bra asked.

"Possibly." Letta answered. "Earth hasn't got a lot of information plotted on the galaxy yet. I'd have to get to the ship to tell you for sure."

"That's OK." Bra replied. Satisfied for now. 

"Well, I'll leave you to star gazing, I 'm going to go to bed before I wake up." Letta smiled and started to leave.

__

She wasn't even completely awake? Bra marveled. 

After staring at the constellation for what seemed like forever, Bra finally decided that she too would go back to bed. Before leaving though, she went to her mother's desk. Opening the top drawer, she reached in and pulled out the dragon radar. Pressing the button did nothing. The screen was blank, the dragonballs having vanished with Shen Leung three years ago, not to return for a hundred years.

"It's really that important to you?" 

Bra looked up at her father, leaning against the door casing, having watched her for who knew how long.

"Yes." Bra said.

Vegeta regarded her. He'd thought long and hard, and discovered that he knew exactly how she felt, having felt the same way once. He joined her side, running his finger down a strand of hair. It was the same color as the fur of his first victim. He'd fought so hard that day to keep hold of who he was, and he'd lost. That was Zarbon and Frieza's intent. Bitterly, he recalled how the blast that killed that little child had been forced out of him. He'd decided to kill her rather than see her suffer by Zarbon's notorious hands. All night, he sat in that cell staring at her corpse, wishing there was some way, any way he could bring her back. Remembering all that, he came to the decision that he'd be damned before he'd let his child experience the same torment of not being allowed to try and make things right.

"I'll take you to Dende tomorrow." He said, pulling her hair away from her face. Instantly, Bra threw her arms around him. "That's no guarantee the namek will tell you."

"And if he does?" Bra asked.

"I'll take you to the planet."

"Thank you, Daddy!" Bra exclaimed hugged him tighter.

The next morning, bright and early, Vegeta and Bra left the house before anyone else was up and flew to Kami's lookout.

"I was going in the right direction." Bra said, noticing the same landscape features.

"It's faster when you fly." Vegeta replied almost sarcastically. Bra made a face at being ridiculed. If she had've flown, he would've felt her ki and came after her. At the time she didn't want that, so she drove. "And there aren't any roads near the base of tower. You would have never found it on the ground. " He added.

"Well it's not like I knew different." Bra replied defensively.

"Don't get mad at me, you were the one who started this conversation." Vegeta replied and sped up so that he could get out of earshot of her, he hated to be bothered while flying.

"Hmph!" Bra grunted. To think she thought it would be _nice_ to spend time alone with her Dad.

After an hour of flying, they landed on the white stone surface of Kami's lookout. Almost immediately, Mr.Popo was there to greet them.

"Welcome, what can I do for you today?" Mr. Popo said politely. Bra looked to her father nervously. Vegeta nodded at her to continue, he wasn't going to do it for her.

"I was wondering if I could speak to Dende, please." Bra asked.

"Certainly." Mr. Popo replied. "Master said you'd be stopping by." Both Bra and her father were slightly taken aback by that. Mr.Popo took no notice and beckoned them to follow. "You've come at a wonderful time." Mr.Popo continued pleasantly. "The flowers are in full bloom."

"This place is beautiful." Bra said, looking al around, trying to take it all in. 

"Thank you, I try my best to keep it nice. Here comes Master Dende now." 

Dende walked out of the building, smiling shyly, as if his job as guardian of the Earth was a modest occupation.

"Hello, Bra. I nearly didn't recognize you, you've grown so much since I saw you at that tournament." Dende said maintaining his smile. "Hello, Vegeta."

Vegeta acknowledged Dende's greeting with a curt nod. 

"What can I do for you both today?"

"I suspect you all ready know why we've come." Vegeta replied.

"Yes." Dende laughed, still slightly intimidated by Vegeta. "You would like to go to Namek." He continued.

"How'd you know?" Bra asked. 

"King Yemma told me." Dende replied.

"So, can I go? I have a good reason. Well, I think it's a good reason."

"Oh it is a good reason, Bra. But technically I shouldn't allow it. Wishing on the Dragon Balls is a privilege, and Shen-Leung decided to revoke Earth's wishing privileges for a hundred years."

"I know." Bra replied. "But it isn't fair. We couldn't even try to save those people and they didn't do anything! Is it right just to let all those people stay dead when we _could_ restore them to life?"

"But if you tried to do that for everyone you saw die, you would never be free to live your own life." Dende gently argued.

"I'll just have to make sure that no more planets are destroyed." Bra replied firmly.

Dende's smile widened, pleased with her answer.

"Bra!" Vegeta bellowed suddenly, making Popo, Dende and Bra all jump. "Come! I've decided this was a mistake." He tuned on his heel and walked towards the exit.

Bra was about to protest when Dende spoke.

"Your ancestors don't seem to think this is a mistake, Vegeta."

Vegeta stopped dead in his tracks, turned around and scowled.

"You have no idea what you're talking about, Namek."

Dende stood his ground patiently. "I do know. King Yemma has told me what the spirits of your ancestors have been saying for centuries. They've waited a thousand years for this."

Vegeta snarled and ran back up to the platform. "They can wait another thousand for all I care!" He spat viciously and grabbed Bra roughly, dragging her down the stairs.

"Daddy, stop it! I want to know what he's talking about!" Bra resisted her father's pull. Vegeta refused to answer and continued to drag her along, up into the air. Furious, Bra transformed, and wrenched her arm from his grasp.

"Girl, you have no idea what I'm trying to do for you!"

Bra maintained her transformation, glaring harshly at her father.

"I'm going to find out what Dende was talking about." Bra replied slowly.

"Fine!" Vegeta exclaimed and released her. "But you are not leaving this planet!"

With that, he flew off, engulfing his daughter in a vapor trail.

Bra returned about an hour later. Dende had told her some very scary things. The drawings, the planet, her power were all connected as she'd thought. Her ancestors had a task for her.

"So?" Trunks asked as she entered the kitchen.

"So what?" Bra asked in a near daze, still trying to absorb all the information Dende had spilled out to her.

"Did you get the coordinates for Namek?"

"Yes." Bra nodded. Dende had given them to her, and even said he'd inform the eldest Namek that she would be coming for the Dragonballs. But the information was given to her on a condition. She would _have_ to go to that planet she'd located with Letta's help the night before. There, Dende had said, was a secret of the saiyan race that not even he or King Yemma had been trusted with. The saiyan spirits had only wanted to ensure that Bra herself would go there. They'd been trying to tell her this directly through the poem, but Vegeta had deliberately ensured that she could not decipher that message.

"Where' s Dad?" Bra demanded. 

Trunks looked at her apprehensively. "You'd better stay away from Dad. He's kind of in one of his states right now."

Bra's eyes widened. 'in one of his states..' was the discreet way Trunks, Bulma and Bra talked about her father's breaking point. When Vegeta was in a state, everyone else was warned to stay away.

"What's he doing?" Bra asked.

"He was out in the yard cursing the heavens." Trunks replied. He pulled back the drapes to check what he was doing now.

"Shit!" Trunks said in a mere whisper.

"What is it?" Bra exclaimed and ran to the window.

Vegeta was walking back towards the house. His training capsule was gone.

He walked into the kitchen and met the bewildered faces of his two children.

"What'd you do with your capsule?" Trunks asked, this action being to strange not to ask for an explanation, no matter how angry Vegeta was.

"I'm making sure no one uses it without my consent." Vegeta replied, his eyes fixed on Bra. Then he went in the direction to Bulma's lab, obviously to confiscate the rest of the ships so Bra would have no means of getting to Namek or any other planet. Her grandmother and Sala had left a few days ago in order to give an official report on Polkrif's defeat. They would be back soon, but she was sure her father would guard their ship when they got back.

Bra would not stand for this. She had to go to those planets. 

"Daddy!" She exclaimed, catching up with him in the hall. 

"What?" Vegeta snapped.

"Won't you please just listen to what Dende told me before you jump to conclusions?"

"If I had wanted to listen to Dende, I would have stayed." Vegeta retorted. " I know exactly what he said. I know exactly what those spirit want. I decided twelve years ago that they would not get it and that's final! So just stop pushing it Bra, before I get really angry."

"Those spirits were talking to me! It's my decision, not yours!"

"As long as you live in my house.."

"This is Mom's house! Your house blew up with your planet!" Bra corrected obnoxiously.

"I'm your father and so long as you live with me you will abide by my decisions!"

"Well maybe I won't live with you anymore!" 

"Well get packing, Princess, you have a lot of stuff!" Vegeta said. Bra choked back a sob and flew back towards the kitchen. Vegeta stood there panting, still angry at Bra's complete disrespect for his authority. Trunks popped his head around the corner of the kitchen doorway and glared murderously at him, then disappeared as soon as Vegeta registered it.


	21. Forgotten Past

****

The Princess

Chapter 21: Forgotten Past

By: senzubean

I do not own Dragon Ball Z in any way. I make no profit from this story. I just wrote it for fun.

Bulma wasn't speaking to Vegeta. Bra had actually started to pack her stuff and no matter what her mother said, she still went in search of boxes in the basement. Trunks left the house, saying he was going to stay in a hotel to try and get some work done without distractions. Letta disappeared somewhere into the depths of Bulma's lab. Argo, pretended to sleep whenever Vegeta entered the living room. And Potay, having gotten used to avoiding Vegeta, continued about his activities as normal.

At about eleven P.M. Potay dropped onto Bra's landing for his daily visit.

"Where're you gonna go?" Potay asked skeptically, he'd noticed that she got all her money from her parents.

"Oh, I'm not going anywhere. I just want Dad to think I am. It's called applied guilt. It's what most parents use to get their kids to do what they want, and it's just as effective in reverse roles."

"Are you sure that will work on your father though?" Potay asked.

"Of course. He'll give me what I want by lunch time tomorrow, guaranteed." Bra said with a wink.

"I'm not apologizing this time!" Vegeta said to Bulma, who was lying in bed pretending to read a novel. "I'm right! And contrary to what you all believe, I have her best interest in mind!"

He looked over at Bulma , who was still oblivious.

"LISTEN TO ME, WOMAN! I'M BEING A GOOD FATHER HERE!" He screamed at the top of his lungs.

Bulma could not resist answering that. 

"A _good_ father, Vegeta, would allow his child to make her own mistakes. If not, she'll never learn what's _right for her_!"

"What these tyrannical spirits want of our daughter will ruin her forever!"

"Bra doesn't seem to think so, and she's a pretty smart kid, you know."

"I know." Vegeta replied. "But she doesn't know anything about the saiyans and what they are capable of! They care for nothing and no one! That power they'll give her will corrupt her! I know it will!"

Bulma huffed. "You care, Vegeta. You're a saiyan, and you were _very_ corrupt once. Look at you now. Not to mention the other five saiyans here."

"Four." Vegeta disagreed. "That boy is a prime example!" Bulma merely glared at him, she wasn't arguing for the hell of it this time.

Vegeta sighed. "Bra will never have to struggle as I did. I won't let my child be told how to live her life."

"Vegeta." Bulma said firmly. "_You are_ telling her how to live her life." With that she rolled over and turned off the lamp, leaving Vegeta standing in the dark.

Aggravated, frustrated and downright grumpy, Vegeta stepped out on his bedroom balcony. If Bulma didn't want to talk to him, that was just fine, he had said all he wanted to say.

He stood there for hours, looking at the stars that Bra wanted so badly to venture into. He would not allow it. Even if Bra did start moving her things out of the house, which he highly doubted she would. He wasn't going to cave this time. One day she would _thank_ him.

Vegeta remembered the day he found that poem Bra had written when she was four. It seemed like just yesterday. He wished he could forget it. When her ability to absorb life energy from others emerged, he was instantly reminded of it. It was obvious that those dead saiyans wanted Bra, his little girl, to reclaim the power of the first Legendary Super Saiyan. How they entrapped the energy he didn't know. But what he did know was that the Saiyan who first possessed it had died by it. He could not allow his daughter to walk back into the hands of death just after escaping from them.

Down below, a long rectangle of yellow light appeared on the lawn. Bra walked over it and into the dark yard. She didn't notice Vegeta watching her as she looked up into the sky. There she stood motionless staring at the sky.

He felt warmth by his side and looked over at his wife.

"My father didn't want me to go looking for the dragonballs. He was so afraid that I'd get hurt that he'd did the same thing you did and confiscated all the capsules I had access to. You know how I convinced him?"

The expression on his face silently urged her to continue.

"I told him I would hate him forever."

Vegeta scoffed at that. She used that threat at least once a week.

"I didn't mean it, of course." Bulma continued. "But I see Bra and you growing farther and farther apart. And while I know that she could never hate you, she won't respect you. You have to respect her wishes, Vegeta. She wants this more than she's ever wanted anything before." Bulma kissed him on the cheek, then went back inside.

Vegeta remained staring at the place Bulma had just occupied.

"You're right as usual, woman." He mumbled to the emptiness. His wife had reminded him of the one thing, besides Bra's little saiyan poem, that he'd forced himself to forget. He hated his father.

As a child, the one thing he'd wanted more than anything was to spend time with his mother. Such a simple request, to have his mother available to him whenever he had a spare moment from training, or studying. He'd done his best, and tried to do more than he was capable of at such a young age, all to please that man. The king had made a promise that he'd be able to be with his mother when he proved himself as a dedicated heir to the throne. The promise was never kept, despite everything Vegeta did for him. His entire life, Vegeta hadn't done anything for himself. Striving to be come a super saiyan was all for his father. He'd wanted to beat Kakarrot more to prove himself to that long dead man than anything else. His pride was his fathers. He'd spent his entire life believing that he had something to be ashamed of. It was only when he realized how easily pride comes to a father, that he also realized that his entire life had been lived for a false belief. 

He looked back down at Bra. She'd started back inside and saw him above. She froze startled and uncomfortable for a few seconds, then continued at a run. Vegeta hoisted himself over the railing and dropped in front of the door, almost causing Bra to fall as she tried to stop herself from ramming into him.

They confronted each other with their eyes, neither uttering a word. Bra crossed her arms over her chest and straightened her back.

"I'm leaving tomorrow." She announced.

"Good." Vegeta replied. Bra stayed stone faced, even her eyes didn't falter. "Be out here by six tomorrow morning." He added. "It's probably a long way to Namek."

At that last word, Bra's expression softened considerably. Vegeta braced himself for the inevitable hug. But Bra merely smiled.

"Thanks, Dad." 

Vegeta smiled solemnly back.

The first thing Bra did when she and her father descended their ship on Namek, was pull out the Dragon Radar.

"You don't need that." Vegeta chastised. Bra begged him with her facial expression to do as her mother had instructed: Vegeta was to behave himself _this_ time.

Bra thought back to breakfast eight days ago, just before they'd left. Vegeta had insisted that Bra listen to and memorize their 'Dragon ball Retrieval Plan'. He gave them each roles. Vegeta's role was to distract the nameks, while Bra found the hut with the dragonball and steal it from its display. This prompted a lot of screaming from Bulma. Vegeta had said that it was a joke. Bulma said that he wasn't funny, chastised his 'sick sense of humor', and continued to tell Bra that violence wasn't necessary and added that it would be a good idea if Vegeta didn't appear before any Nameks at all, a proposal Vegeta was completely in agreement with.

Bra continued to press the button of the radar over and over, giddy at the site of a full screen instead of the sad blank one on earth. Vegeta, annoyed by the continuous beeping, snatched it from her and shoved it in his jacket pocket. Bra was crushed.

"But its tradition."

"If we're going to do this, we're going to do it my way." He said stubbornly. Bra panicked at that.

"Daddy, please be good."

"Be quiet and search for ki groupings!" He said.

"Found one!" Bra exclaimed almost immediately and she leapt into the air, shooting off into the first villages direction. Vegeta grumbled at their being six more to go.

It was easy enough to get the Dragon balls. They didn't need to resort to the 'Dragon ball retrieval Plan' once. Bra was easily recognized, looking so much like Bulma. A handful of Nameks in each village remembered living at Bulma's house, and were more than willing to give Bra their Dragonball, certain that no child of Bulma's would use the balls for misdeeds. Vegeta had taken Bulma's advice and stayed out of site, therefore having no influence on their decision. 

It wasn't long at all and they had six. The eldest Namek was left for last, being the weakest ki signature since there were only two nameks in that house on the rock podium.

Maury, the new eldest Namek, also recognized Bra.

"Dende said to expect you." He said with a smile as both she and her father were invited in by Maury's attendant, Pioan. "He had ensured me that your intentions are good, so I won't hold you up. Pioan will summon the dragon and translate your wishes."

Less than fifteen minutes later, the Sky was black and a giant dragon was floating directly above the trio.

"What are your wishes?" Pioan asked pleasantly.

Bra inhaled nervously, then said: "An evil person called Polkrif caused the destruction of three planets. I'd like to restore them and their people back to life."

Pioan returned a hopeless expression. "The Dragon cannot grant that wish. He only has the power to restore the life of one being at a time."

"Only three people?" Bra mumbled disappointed. She looked at her father, her mother had praised his ability to work within the limits of the dragon countless times. But Vegeta was not going to help.

"If you want this bad enough, you can figure out a way to get it. " he replied. Bra heaved a sigh, she had never made a wish before, what if she did it wrong?

"Hurry up!" the Dragon boomed at them. Pioan's desperate expression was not encouraging. 

"Can the dragon bring back just the planets?" Bra asked hopefully. 

"Yes." Pioan replied. "The dragon can restore a planet and its vegetation, because it is considered a unit. But all of the individual creatures must be wished back separately."

Bra frowned. "Use the first two wishes to restore the two planets that Polkrif completely destroyed." Bra said. Pioan did so, and each time the Dragon announced that the wishes had been successfully granted.

Vegeta and Pioan both were anxious to know what Bra's last wish would be. Bra inhaled deeply.

"Ask the Dragon if he can restore the Earth's dragonballs."

Pioan returned a puzzled expression, but did as he was asked. There was a momentary pause, the dragon grumbling as if in deep thought.

"It can be done." The dragon replied. 

Bra gasped in delight. "Wish for that!" 

The wish was granted, the dragon disappeared and the balls scattered.

"I don't understand." Pioan replied. "Why did you want the Earth's dragonballs returned? Surely they have the same limitations as ours."

Vegeta smiled, understanding exactly what Bra would do. "Dende's dragonballs were designed to only grant two wishes. The power sacrificed from the third allows multiple people to be wished back per wish."

"Very Clever." Pioan agreed. "Good luck with your next wishes."

Soon, Vegeta and Bra were in space again. They were eating dinner that Bra cooked. Vegeta tried to ignore the taste, Bra was a worse cook than her mother. Bra merely poked at hers, her mind was somewhere else.

"I hope Dende isn't angry with me for restoring the Earth's dragonballs. He did say that Shen-Leung revoked the _privilege_ of us using them."

"Its too late to be worried about that now." Vegeta replied crankily. He was dreading where Bra wanted to go next and as if she had read his mind, Bra said:

"How long will it take us to get to that other planet?" 

Vegeta shrugged. "Three days or so."

There was a lengthy silence. "Dad, why don't you want me to go there?"

Vegeta grunted. "Just because some juvenile poem instructs you to do something doesn't mean that you should."

"But Dende wouldn't tell me to do something dangerous." 

"Hmph! That kid would do anything his superiors told him!" Vegeta scowled. "Our ancestors are crafty, Bra. That's what helped keep them leaders of our race. Every member of clan Vegeta was born with a natural ability to conceal our true intentions from others. I wouldn't trust my ancestors as far as I could throw them, and that's pretty damned far considering I'm the strongest of them all." 

"What about Grandma? You trust her." 

"She's not a member of Clan Vegeta." Vegeta explained sarcastically. 

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see." Bra said stubbornly and started to clear the table.

"You're not afraid, even after the dreams?" Vegeta asked.

Bra nearly dropped the dishes to the floor. "How did you know about the dreams?"

"I told your grandmother about one I had, it was almost the same as the ones you relayed to her."

Bra was visibly shaken, then she calmly went back to the dishes. "That's weird. But I still want to find out what it means."

Vegeta sighed, he was not going to convince her to turn back. All he could do was be ready to protect her when the time came.

Three days later, they landed in a thick forest, exactly like the one in their dreams.

"At least we know we're on the right planet." Bra said nervously, looking all around her, half expecting an army to jump out at them. No army came, although two air cruisers appeared above, circling.

"I think we're about to meet the locals." Vegeta said watching as the cars spiraled closer to the ground. One landed directly in front of them in the clearing, one behind. The occupants exited, two in each car, and they were brandishing guns. As they approached they began to look very familiar. They were fuzzy ape men just like Polkrif. Obviously this was the planet he hailed from. They also looked like a more civilized form of the army in both Vegeta and Bra's dream. Vegeta growled under his breath, suspecting that this visit was going to get interesting at any moment.

"Where did you two come from?" One of the apes asked, their uniforms indicated that they were police.

"Earth." Vegeta answered. Bra stood silent, very afraid by these aliens who looked so much like Polkrif and the army in her dream.

"Never heard of it." The ape answered.

"Well its far away from here, and not part of the Galactic Alliance."

"Never heard of the Galactic Alliance either." The man answered again. "Anyone else in that craft of yours?" He asked.

Vegeta told him no, but they weren't satisfied. Angry, but not wanting to cause any trouble yet, Vegeta allowed them to search it.

"What brings you here, then?" the alien in charge demanded when they were outside again. "Ship trouble?"

"No." Vegeta replied at the brink of losing his patience. Choosing his words very carefully, he continued, "We've heard of a site on this planet that we want to have a look at. It's a statue of a giant ape. Is it here?" 

All four started at the explanation. 

"We don't mix with outsiders." The leader hastily said. "How exactly did you hear of this site?"

"A traveler that has recently visited your planet told us." Vegeta lied

"You're the first people to visit us in over ten years." The alien said nastily, they all took on very suspicious airs.

"Listen, " Vegeta replied. "All we want to do is look at the site. Then we'll leave."

"You'll leave now." The leader ordered. "Just forget what you've heard about that statue. We don't want any outsiders on our planet. We've finally purged it of all invaders, we don't want to be bothered again! If you don't leave right now, we'll kill you, that's how serious we are about our privacy!"

Vegeta scowled at them. But Bra was shaken.

"Daddy, let's just leave. Its not that important."

"Stop allowing yourself to be intimidated!" Vegeta snapped at her. Then confronted the leader. "The Prince of all Saiyans will not be ordered around by men hiding behind _guns_."

"Saiyans?" One of the aliens gasped

"Don't be a fool!" The leader chastised. "The Saiya-jin left this planet one thousand years ago and became extinct."

"Left _this_ planet?" Vegeta said surprised. "What are you talking about?"

"If you were a saiyan, you would know of this planet's history, and you would know that we pushed those wild beasts out of here in order to save our civilization. Our ancestors culled what was an inferior breed of Simiod."

Vegeta was baffled by that. "Saiyans lived here?"

The leader brought his gun up, aiming it at Bra and cocked it. "You had your chance to leave, now you both die."

Seconds later, all four were weapon-less. Vegeta crushed the four guns with one hand and let the mass of mangled metal drop to his feet.

"I want to know more about the Saiyans." Vegeta replied. "You four will not leave this forest until I am satisfied."

"You've taken our weapons, but you have not disarmed us." The leader screamed and lunged at Vegeta. He was unconscious moments later. Two of the other men attacked at once, they too were added to the pile of fallen aliens. The last, a young man, was left. He was too frightened to attack. 

"You're the only one left." Vegeta said. "You can tell me what I want to know, or you can join your friends."

"I..I don't know much sir. It's only covered briefly in history classes."

"Just tell me what you know!" Vegeta bellowed.

"Well, we're members of the species Simiod. Two types evolved from the same base, the Meandols, what I am, and the Saiyans, what you claim to be. Anyway, we all lived on this planet until about a thousand years ago. You see, the Meandols wanted to expand their empires, while the Saiyans had remained hunter gatherers for the most part. Fights broke out when we invaded their territory and built cities. Our breeds are very aggressive, but the saiyans were always a bit more wild, they didn't resort to weapons. And uh...there was one very important difference in our anatomy."

"Tails." Vegeta finished, noticing that this young man did not have one.

"Yes." He replied. "the saiyans transformed on the full moon."

"How often does the full moon appear?" Vegeta demanded. 

"Every four months." 

"Hmph!" Vegeta scoffed. That must have been very inconvenient for the Meandol invaders. "And what happened to the saiyans?"

"Well our two groups fought continuously, until the Planet was a mess. Then these other species showed up on ships. They were fighters too and had very powerful weapons and technology. Anyway, the Meandols had money and the Saiyans didn't. They paid these new comers to take the Saiyans away. The Saiyans were culled then the best specimens were captured and relocated to another planet somewhere. But Clan Vegeta put up a good fight. They even had a gold fighter that was much stronger than the rest. Apparently, it took ten armies to bring her down and even then it wasn't them who'd destroyed her."

"Who killed her then?" Vegeta asked, not knowing whether to believe all this or not. But the kid had mentioned his name without being prompted to do so, indicating that there was some truth in it.

"No one knows. It was rumored that she self-destructed, but there were remains. Very strange. She remained a giant ape even after death. Saiyans usually de-transform don't they, when they're killed?"

"Yes." Vegeta mumbled going through all this information in his mind. "What were the aliens in ships called."

"I don't remember, sorry." The man replied." Y..you'll have to ask someone else to verify all that sir. I think I remembered right, but I'm not exactly sure."

Vegeta wondered if the aliens tsufurin. But Zorn had told him that the Saiyans had come themselves to Planet Plant, and he was much more reluctant to doubt Zorn than he was to doubt even his father. It was always possible that his people had escaped from another planet and went to Plant. He looked down at the fallen soldiers, wondering if he should wait until they were awake to verify the information.

"That will do for now." He decided. "Bra, capsulise the ship." Bra nodded to dumfound to speak and ran to do as she was told.

"S..sir, um what will you do here?" The young man asked shakily.

"We'll examine the site, then we will leave."

"Y..you promise?" he continued. 

Vegeta glared back. "I don't make promises to creatures weaker than myself. Especially when said creatures inconvenienced me as you did."

"Let me make it up to you." The creature babbled on. "I'll take you to the site, It's not far."

"That's better." Vegeta smirked nastily. Bra returned, the ship secure in her backpack. "Go." Vegeta ordered the young man, who nodded and levitated into the air.

An hour later they landed at the foot of the statue, exactly like the one in the dreams.

"It sure is something, huh?" The young man said, fast gaining back his boldness now that he felt himself to be out of danger from Vegeta. "Archaeologists have studied it for years, it's the planets greatest mystery. Energy sensors go off the charts when they're activated within a five mile radius of this place, but the scientists have determined that its nothing but a sculpture in the cliff face."

Vegeta looked at Bra, who felt the energy too.

"You can go now." Vegeta said to the young man.

"Sir, do you know what the mystery of it is? I promise not to tell anyone else."

Vegeta merely glared at him. The aliens face fell defeated.

"Have a safe trip home sir." He said and left.

Bra looked over her shoulder towards the woods.

"I don't think we have anything to worry about, Bra. You saw how weak those men were, and obviously they were the planets best if they sent them to deal with an unidentifiable space craft." Vegeta said.

"I guess." Bra replied. "Do you think it's true what they said?"

Vegeta shrugged. "He had a lot of details straight. The legend of the Super Saiyan, my name, it probably is."

Bra nodded, then advanced towards the stone. "There's a lot of energy in there." She said nervously. She planted her palm on its right shin. She removed it forcefully seconds later. It was as if her hand had been stuck to the stone.

"What's wrong?" Vegeta asked slightly worried.

"It wants me to take it. I barely had to concentrate to get hold of it."

"Does it feel...dangerous?" Vegeta asked.

"No." Bra replied. " I don't think it's anymore dangerous than yours was. But there is a lot of it." Bra stared for a few minutes, then stepped away from it.

"I'm going to leave it there."

Vegeta looked at her questioningly. "Are you sure? It's meant for you to have."

"I don't need it now though. Didn't the poem say I'm supposed to use it to keep the universe safe?"

"I don't care what the poem says." Vegeta spat. "I'm just worried that if you leave without taking any, those damned spirits will continue to torment you."

Bra smiled. "I think we've done what they wanted." Bra replied. "They wanted you to know where we came from." Bra replied. "Why would they send you that dream if they didn't want you here too?"

"Makes sense, Princess." Vegeta agreed. He looked up at the archway, their family's insignia was there and the words "Legumasa, Queen of Saiyans." Written on either side.

""Are you positive that you won't take the power, Bra?"

"There's too much of it. I can't handle it all. It's not going anywhere, it's been there for a thousand years. I could always come back later."

"If you're sure." Vegeta replied with a sigh. "Let's get out of here."

Bra smiled and followed him into the air.

"Now aren't you glad you came? We found out some neat stuff."

Vegeta grunted and nodded.

"I can't wait to get home and finish up my wishes." She said. 

Vegeta forced a smile. He secretly hoped that Dende would allow it.


	22. Heir of the saiyan Queen

****

The Princess

Chapter 22: Heir of the Saiyan Queen

By: senzubean

I do not own Dragon Ball Z in any way. I make no profit from this story. I just wrote it for fun.

When they got back to capsule corp. there was a very big surprise waiting for them.

"Hi!" was the first thing Vegeta heard when he got in the front door.

He stared stupefied at what was grinning back.

"Kakarrot?" He stuttered. "Wh..what are you doing...alive?"

Goku's mouth was open so wide in a grin that you could see his molars. "I was restored with the Dragonballs." He said and stood up. "I got my old body back too." Sure enough he wasn't a kid anymore. Vegeta looked from Goku, to the massive pile of food on the coffee table then back to Goku.

"That's..." Vegeta started, completely flabbergasted. 

"Hi, Bra!" Goku exclaimed when Bra came in the house with her and Vegeta's bags.

Bra gaped at him as surprised as her father.

"I heard you had some adventures." Goku said. Vegeta's eyebrows arched quizzically. Goku had an extreme knack for understatement.

"There you are, finally." Bulma said as she walked in from the kitchen. "They're back." Bulma called over her shoulder. There was the sound of exclamations of happiness and moving chairs, and silverware being discarded, then everyone piled into the living room. The entire Son family was there, as well as Recely and Sala who had obviously returned while they were away. They were bombarded with questions, all ranging from what they'd found on that mysterious planet to what they were going to wish for with the restored dragonballs.

"Wait till you hear what we found out! "Bra exclaimed. "But first I have some wishes to make. Mom, I need the radar right away."

"Hold on, your wishes can wait until after you've put some food into you." Bulma said. "Besides, Goku's all ready gathered the dragonballs, they're waiting in the backyard."

Bra grinned from ear to ear, then rushed outside. 

"Wait for me!" Both Pan and Potay yelled at the same time, nearly knocking over three adults as they ran after her.

"Kids." Bulma huffed. "Who wants dessert?" No one answered, they had all followed the kids.

Shen-Leung was already in the air before everyone got outside.

Potay stared agape at the apparition. "Cool." He muttered. Sala, Letta , Argo and Recely were in awe as well.

"Why have you summoned me?" Shen-Leung boomed.

Pan snorted, "To make some wishes, what else?" 

"Shen-Leung, I wish to restore the first planet Polkrif messed up." Bra said.

There was a pause then Shen-Leung said. "Your wish has been granted."

"Thanks! Now please bring back to life everyone who's death resulted from Polkrif's actions."

There was a slightly longer pause. Bra's heart jumped, thinking that maybe Shen-Leung couldn't or wouldn't grant that wish.

"Your wish has been granted."

Cheers were hollered and thanks were given to the dragon. Shen-Leung coiled back into the balls and they scattered about the earth once again.

Bra beamed. "It's fixed."

Potay was still agape. "That...was cool."

Goku pulled out Bulma's dragon rader. "Guess I should give this back now." He said and stretched out his arm towards his long time friend, but her daughter took it before she could get it. Bra squeezed her hand together, destroying the device.

"WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?" Bulma screamed. "That was our only one!"

"Dende said the dragonballs are a privilege not a right. If we need them that badly we'll find them regardless of the obstacles." Bra replied matter of factly.

Bulma huffed in rage. "You didn't have to destroy it! You're grounded until you learn respect for other people's things!"

"Hmph! " Vegeta scoffed. "She's just after wishing back three planets and heaven knows how many people, and you think she needs to learn respect for other people?" 

"She had no right to destroy my dragon radar! So she's grounded!"

"Well, I'm un-grounding her. Quit overreacting!"

"I am not overreacting, if she destroyed your precious gravity chamber you would ground her!"

"She _did_ destroy my gravity chamber and I _did not_ ground her!" 

Everyone wandered off leaving Vegeta and Bulma to argue in the yard. Goku and Recely made some feeble attempts but gave up quickly, seeing that the two were ignoring them anyway.

Inside, everyone continued dinner as if it was just any old get-together. After Bra explained all about the planet and the hidden Saiyan history, conversation took on a more casual route.

"So, when does your leave end?" Argo asked his daughter.

"Whenever we want to go back." Sala said around a mouthful of ice-cream. "After thirty years of non stop service to the Galactic peace keepers, we've amassed a lot of vacation time. Besides, it'll be pretty quiet now that Polkrif is gone. The General estimates that over 80% of his organization is either dead or incarcerated now."

"That's good news." Argo agreed.

"When are you leaving for Yuisgro?" Bra asked.

All the saiyans gave her a puzzled look. "We were going to live here now, is that a problem?" Potay asked a little hurt. It sounded as if Bra didn't want them there anymore.

"I didn't mean it like that." Bra said with a scowl, then she became solemn. "You should go see your father. He's probably really confused about now."

Potay and Sala both gasped, looked at each other and ran for the door.

Potay rammed into Vegeta as he and Bulma were returning to the house.

"Sorry!" Potay yelled as he continued to run, his mother hadn't stopped for him.

Vegeta pushed himself back up and glared after him. "Where the hell are they going so fast?"

"To pick up Tuce." Recely said smiling.

"That's right!" Bulma exclaimed happily. "We're certainly going to have a full house here from now on." She continued into the kitchen, chatting with Recely. Goku had come out after them. He was grinning in his typical way.

"Your Mom sure is nice , Vegeta."

Vegeta made a noise of affirmation.

"Kind of makes you wonder why you turned out so nasty."

Vegeta's eyebrows furrowed. "She wasn't around long enough to influence me." 

"Yeah." Goku said rubbing the back of his head. "I was pretty lonely after my Grandpa died too. I sure was glad when Bulma came along, she was such a good friend."

Vegeta hummed in agreement. "Bulma's good like that." 

There was a lengthy silence, the two saiyans just stood there, seemingly enjoying the environment. It was proving a little too uncomfortable for Goku.

"Wanna spar?" He asked.

Vegeta regarded him, his face somewhat puzzled. "No, actually I don't, Kakarrot."

Goku laughed and Vegeta snorted and brushed past the taller saiyan into the house.

Goku stopped abruptly. "Why not?" Vegeta was long gone. 

"Hey, Vegeta!"

Later that evening, Vegeta stood at the console of his training capsule but had absolutely no desire to turn it on.

"That's the strangest thing..." He mumbled.

"Hi Daddy, " Vegeta turned to see Bra arrive in the open doorway, he hadn't even heard her come in.

He smiled, "Hi Bra." Then took on a puzzled look. "Why are you in training clothes?"

Bra laughed nervously. "Well, I was hoping to train with you."

Vegeta was downright shocked. "You mastered that power. You don't have to train anymore."

"I want to." Bra replied.

"Y..you want to?" He said his mouth curving up into a smile. Pride enveloped him, then his stomach fell. "You don't have to try and please me, Bra. I'm all ready proud of you."

Bra smiled." I know, Dad. But I could learn to absorb power faster. And I want to learn to hold my transformations better. And as always, I need work on my upper body attacks..."she trailed off, noticing her father's blank expression.

"Why do you want to learn all of that?" Vegeta demanded to know.

Bra took a deep breath. "This power is a gift. It shouldn't go to waste." She looked away at the floor, she did not want her father to argue with her.

Vegeta reached out with his hand and caressed her face.

"You don't have to do anything , Bra. Your life is your own and no one, not dead ancestors, not your mother, not I, have any right to tell you what to do with it." Bra smiled and touched his hand. 

"I talked to Grandma, she said that after I graduate there'd be a place for me in the Galactic Alliance's Peace keeper Training Academy. She said she'd live there with me so she could train me herself. I want to go, Dad. I've decided that's what I'm going to do with my life."

"That's a big decision to make with only a few days of thought."

Bra chuckled. "Nah, I'd decided I wanted to be like Grandma since the day we met."

Vegeta smiled. "She's something else, your grandmother." Vegeta said and pulled Bra to him in a hug. "And so are you. If that's what you want, then I'll help you."

Bra smiled up at him, tears in your eyes. "Great. You can tell Mom for me."

A very unpleasant expression took form on Vegeta's face. Bulma was not going to take the news well.


	23. Epilogue

****

The Princess

Epilogue

By: senzubean

I do not own Dragon Ball Z in any way. I make no profit from this story. I just wrote it for fun.

A year had passed. The Briefs' family was greatly extended with the addition of six Saiyans and they were never happier up until now. But a dark shadow had passed over the house recently.

"MY BABY IS LEAVING! SHE'S GROWN UP! I'M SO OLD!" Bulma wailed at Vegeta. 

"Knock it off , woman, I'm tired of listening to you." Vegeta grunted. Bulma had been doing this every night for the past week. Bulma continued her wailing, so Vegeta pulled his pillow over his head in attempts to muffle the noise. It didn't help and made Bulma angrier.

"YOU DON'T CARE!" She screamed and started punching him. "BUT WHY SHOULD YOU? YOU SAIYANS DON'T AGE! ARGH! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT, VEGETA! WHY COULDN'T YOU HAVE BEEN A GOOD FATHER SOONER? WE COULD HAVE HAD MORE KIDS!" Bulma sobbed harder than ever at that. "I want more babies..." She added weakly.

"How was I supposed to know you human women become sterile with age?" Vegeta replied sourly. He also had wanted another child after he decided that _his_ brats weren't so bad. But to his disappointment, Bulma had hit menopause.

Bulma was shocked at his statement.

"Sterile with age?" Bulma repeated aghast. "THAT'S A TERRIBLE WAY TO PUT IT!" And she slapped him again.

"You are being completely foolish!" Vegeta said tearing the covers away and getting out of the bed. "It's a simple fact that children grow up and leave their parents. You ought to be proud of her!"

"I am." Bulma mumbled. "But Trunks didn't go away, so I don't know how to deal with her leaving..." She began to sniffle. Vegeta winced seeing her face contort as she struggled not to sob. She wasn't successful.

"I MISS HER ALLREADY!" Bulma cried out and continued to talk incoherently. Vegeta went to the balcony, very tired of trying to deal with her, and dropped down in the backyard.

It was cold for August. A chilly wind blew around the Prince, dressed only in his boxers. He looked at his Training Capsule, standing lonely in the shadows. He hadn't been using it much of late. Bra and he had ceased their training a week ago. She'd trained hard, now Bra was more powerful than her brother. Also, with that power of hers, she had a definite advantage over Vegeta, although he doubted she'd have the nerve to use it against him. She could beat any saiyan alive now, even Kakarrot.

Vegeta smiled at the thought of him. He was still confused by Vegeta's refusal to have a good fight with him. Vegeta just didn't think it important anymore. He didn't need to beat Goku to feel good about himself. He had his family for that, just like Goku admitted the first time they'd met. 

Kakarrot, after thirty years of Vegeta telling him otherwise, refused to accept the decline of a determining fight. In their recent sparring sessions, the softhearted saiyan certainly shed his character and tried to coax Vegeta to beat him good and proper. He'd actually been fighting dirty, and was very affronted when Vegeta called him on it laughing. Everyday, Goku, Tuce and himself would go spar out in the wilderness. Vegeta would never forget the first time he announced that he and Tuce would be doing this, and asked Goku if he would like to come. Goku grinned his most stupidest grin to date, happy that Vegeta finally openly acknowledged that they were friends.

The Prince ran his eyes over the smooth contour of what was once his most beloved possession. Now like video game systems piled up in the storage room, once treasured beyond imagination by Trunks, it just wasn't fun anymore.

Throaty chuckling, followed by soft giggling, reached Vegeta' s ears in the dark. The source of the noise could only be coming from one place. Vegeta bristled at the thought of who it was.

He went to investigate and as he expected, he found two teenagers; one was Potay, the other his beautiful, innocent princess. And to his utter choler, they were holding on to each other as if they would float off the ground into space if they let go. Not only that, but their lips were stuck together and to further aggravate Vegeta, they were enjoying themselves so much with this activity that they hadn't even noticed that he'd become a spectator.

"Ahem." Vegeta interrupted after deciding it was high time his child had a breath of fresh air.

"Hi Daddy." Bra chirped, seemingly un fazed by Vegeta's presence. But Vegeta could tell that Bra was hiding her real reaction like a master. He had taught her well.

Potay on the other hand was obviously nervous. It was, after all, the first time Vegeta had caught them in the act. In reality, Vegeta had seen it several times but chose to bide his time. Since the two saiyans were leaving tomorrow to go to school together, Vegeta would no longer be able to enforce parental guidance.

"Bra, let go of _that_, and go to bed." 

Bra sighed, but didn't dare argue. This was one of those times that she couldn't tell what her father was going to do, and those times were all ways frightening. As soon as she was in the house, he glared venomously at Potay, who, knowing that he had not been dismissed, hadn't moved.

"Boy, you're really pushing my buttons." 

Potay sank deeper in the long grass. They had learned a great deal about each other over the last year. Potay , in attempts to mend things between them, and show Vegeta that he was responsible, asked to be trained. Something that the kid regretted later, but dare not quit. In one of those sparring sessions, Potay had shown great advancement and priding himself on his training abilities, Vegeta praised him. Potay, thinking that this meant that Vegeta had finally forgiven him, announced that he liked, Bra. _A lot_.

Vegeta had tried that day to beat that idea out of his head, but apparently he failed. Hating to fail at anything, Vegeta now decided that he would have to resort to verbal abuse, coupled with the extremely effective technique of mind games.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Vegeta asked.

Potay stared blankly at his elder, not knowing how to respond to that vague statement, which was what Vegeta wanted.

"The truth is , boy, I look like I can control my actions, but I have a really hard time with rage. And, as you know, when my daughter stands in the way of getting hurt, I become very enraged." Vegeta leaned closer to Potay, who was now sweating. "I may lose it if she gets hurt again. Understand?"

Potay nodded slowly, eyes wide and petrified. Vegeta smirked impressed with himself. But he knew that he wasn't done. Potay was brave, but it was a bravery that border-lined true courage and hot-headed stupidity. Even then, Potay's face settled into complacency.

"I would never hurt, Bra." Potay said. "I truly love her. I think I could spend the rest of my life with her."

That did it, Vegeta shoved his face right into Potay's. "Thinking and knowing are two very different things. And since I know that you're thinking with your dick, you will never know! Stay the hell away from my little girl or I will rip off your empty little head and use it as a centerpiece for the coffee table! Got it?"

"Y..yes sir." Potay stuttered. There was a lengthy silence as Vegeta continued to glare at Potay as if burning his sentence into his brain for eternity.

"Can I go now, please?" He asked.

"Go straight to your room; do not stop for anything!"

Potay ran straight across the lawn, leaving the front door swinging.

When Vegeta got in, Tuce was watching T.V and Argo was snoring in a lazy boy. Tuce was baffled by Potay's behavior, but his face brightened a bit when Vegeta walked in.

"So you're responsible, I was worried for a minute."

"Hmph!" Vegeta scoffed. "You'll have a lot to worry about if he continues his advances on Bra." 

Tuce laughed. "Come on Vegeta, he's my kid, at least you know where he came from."

"That's exactly the problem."

"I'm getting a bit insulted here." Tuce teased. "Are you implying that my character is tainted?"

"No, I'm telling you that that boy is like his mother and her character is very questionable." He said with a smirk.

Tuce laughed. "Good thing Argo is asleep. He'd fight you for saying that about _his_ little girl."

The next morning at breakfast, Potay wouldn't even look at Bra let alone talk to her. He shot glances at Vegeta every so often to determine if he was watching him. Every time he was met with a stern glare. Potay sank down farther in his chair.

"Sit up!" Sala scolded. "If you sit like that in your classes, your trainers going to question your ability to take things seriously."

"I'm serious. _Very serious_." Potay replied solemnly and looked over at Vegeta, who was not impressed at all.

Bra was watching Potay too, and her suspicions of her father's influence were confirmed.

After breakfast, they all went to the backyard where Letta's space cruiser had been released from its capsule. Bra, Potay, Recely, Letta and Sala were all leaving for ten months. Everyone exchanged their good-byes. Bulma ran in the house feeling that she was about to go hysterical after hugging Bra. Trunks looked at the ground after his hug, and stood off to the side. 

As soon as he saw an opportunity, Vegeta took Bra aside, leading her around the corner of the house, wanting to say his goodbye in private.

"Could you please try to be nice to Potay?" Bra begged. 

"He's going to be gone, I won't have a chance to be nice." Vegeta replied. "And you be careful."

"Aw, can't you trust me , Dad?" Bra asked a little hurt.

"I trust you implicitly, Princess. It's that Boy I'm afraid of."

"He's nice, Dad. You don't have to worry."

Vegeta left it at that and looked down at his child. It pained him to see her like this. Grown up, independent, not that little girl that ran to him for absolutely everything. He missed that little girl more than anything.

Bra sniffed and a few tears streamed her face. 

"Nervous?" Vegeta asked. Bra nodded. "Mother will take good care of you. You can go to her for anything, understand."

Bra nodded again, then abruptly threw herself against him. Vegeta hugged her close.

" If you decide this isn't right for you, I want you to come home. You have to think of your happiness above everything. You will be no use to anyone if you're miserable." He squeezed her a little more, holding her securely against him. "I'm very proud of you, Bra and I always will be."

"I love you so much, Dad." Bra sniffed.

They hugged for a few more minutes, until Bra pushed herself gently away.

"I have a gift for you." Vegeta said and held out a small box wrapped in a paper bag. "Don't open it until you're off the planets surface."

"OK." Bra said and pocketed it. She smiled warmly. "Thanks , Dad."

"Call me if you need anything or even if you don't need anything."

Bra laughed. "I won't be a stranger."

Vegeta nodded, and looked at her intensely, his face softening considerably.

"You'd better get going." He said and then flew off. Bra watched him until he disappeared.

"Bye, Daddy. I'll miss you."

Before, Bra knew it, she had left the Earth behind, not to return for a good ten months. She looked at the stars, space looked so lonely. She missed her family all ready.

"Hi." Potay said a little un surely, afraid Bra might be angry with him for shunning her.

"My Dad sure did a number on you." Bra replied with a grin.

"He is a scary man."

"He is not." Bra smiled "He'll be fine once he starts to trust you."

"When will that be?"

Bra shrugged. "Who knows, Dad's fickle when it comes to deciding who he likes."

Potay's face fell and he slumped on the window sill in defeat.

Bra laughed, her Father was quite the character. The thought reminded her of his present. Bra pulled it out of her pocket.

"Daddy gave me something." Bra said and looked at the brown wrapped box fondly.

"He actually got you something?" Potay asked. The thought of Vegeta actually going out shopping by himself was mind boggling.

Bra nodded and rubbed the paper with her thumb.

"So, open it." Potay said.

Bra did so carefully. The box was a capsule case.

"Maybe he got you a cool car!" Potay exclaimed. He loved earth cars, but his mother wouldn't allow him to have one. "We'll be the envy of everyone with a capsule car!"

Bra stared at the box, she knew that her father wouldn't give her a car. She popped it open, and gasped.

The case fell from her hand and a large capsule rolled across the floor. Potay stooped and picked it up.

"It's big. Probably a mini van or something practical." He stated disappointedly.

"N.no it's not a car." Bra said and took it from him. "Its Dad's training capsule."

Potay nodded grimly . "Yep, something practical. As if we won't have enough work cut out for us."

"You don't understand, he _loved_ this thing!" Bra exclaimed, then wiped away a tear. "And he gave it to me." She noticed something on the floor out of the corner of her eye. It was a small piece of paper. She picked it up and immediately recognized her father's elegant writing, so odd for a hardened warrior. Then message, however, like a hardened warrior, was brief and to the point.

**** __

I don't need this anymore. I know you will make good use of it.

It is not to be used for kissing.

All my love,

Dad 

*************

Well, it's finally done. It only took a year. Thanks all for being patient with me. And thank you very much for taking the time to read my story. I hope you enjoyed it! :D

~senzubean


End file.
